Tokyo: The support rate for the Japanese cabinet dropped to 32.3 per cent, the lowest since its launch, a survey by national news agency Kyodo showed.
The latest opinion poll released on Sunday has shown that the approval rating for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s cabinet plunged from 39.8 in the previous poll conducted in September, a record low since Kishida took office in October 2021.
Meanwhile, the disapproval rating rose to a record high of 52.5 from 39.7 per cent in September, Xinhua news agency reported.
The survey also found that 58.6 per cent of respondents expect the upcoming economic package, planned to be compiled by the end of this month to mitigate the pain of rising prices for everyday goods, will be ineffective, Kyodo reported.
A total of 82.1 per cent of the surveyed said they were “worried” or “somewhat worried” about the financial resources that the government needs to secure as it works to strengthen defence capabilities and grapple with the declining births.
Among the surveyed, some 61.1 per cent believed Kishida’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party still has links with the controversial religious group Unification Church, formally called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.
Japan’s Education and Culture Ministry on Friday filed a request with a court for an order to dissolve the Unification Church, in a bid to deprive the group of its religious corporation status.
The survey conducted from Saturday to Sunday received valid responses from 410 households by landline and 616 mobile phone users.
–IANS