Last month, the approval rating of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's cabinet in Japan, which was nearing a 'crisis of resignation' level due to the recently emerged 'gift certificate scandal', barely surpassed 30% and remains at its lowest level.
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported on the 14th that the approval rating of Ishiba's cabinet was 31% according to the results of a monthly opinion poll conducted from the 11th to the 13th with 1,026 people (based on valid responses), which was the same as the previous low recorded in March. However, the response rate of 'do not support' decreased to 54%, down from 58% last month.
According to a public opinion poll conducted by NHK during the same period with 1,120 individuals aged 18 and older, the approval rating of Ishiba's cabinet dropped by 1 percentage point from the previous month to 35%. This is the lowest since the cabinet's launch in October of last year. The view of 'do not support' for Ishiba's cabinet remained the same at 45% as the previous month.
Last month, the approval rating of Ishiba's cabinet fell to its lowest since its launch after reports surfaced on the 3rd that Prime Minister Ishiba had given gift certificates worth 100,000 yen (approximately 1 million won) to newly elected members of the House of Representatives. In some polls, the approval rating dropped to 20%, which is referred to as a 'resignation crisis' level.
In this survey by Yomiuri, the support ratings for political parties were recorded as follows: the Liberal Democratic Party 28%, the Democratic Party for the People 13%, and the Constitutional Democratic Party 6%. For the desirable form of government in the future, the response rate for 'opposition-centered government change' (42%) surpassed that of 'maintenance of a government centered on the Liberal Democratic Party' (40%).
Additionally, 88% of respondents expressed 'concern' about the impact of U.S. tariff measures on the Japanese economy, while the response rate for 'do not worry' was only 8%. Regarding the negotiations the Japanese government will have with the U.S., 'cannot expect' (75%) greatly outnumbered 'can expect' (18%).