As the approval rating for the Cabinet led by Japan Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi continues to soar, approval was shown to have declined among young people and unaffiliated voters, who had been regarded as the core support base of the Takaichi administration.
On Jun. 1, Nikkei (Nihon Keizai Shimbun) reported that in a telephone poll conducted with TV Tokyo of 958 people aged 18 and older from May 29 to 31, the approval rating for the Takaichi Cabinet was tallied at 66%. That was down 3 percentage points from the same survey a month earlier. Meanwhile, those who said they "do not support" the Cabinet rose 2 percentage points from the previous month to 28%.
The figure of 66% itself remains overwhelming. Nikkei said the Takaichi Cabinet has consistently maintained a high approval rating in the high-60% range since it was launched in Oct. last year, a level that is hard to find precedent for among Japanese administrations formed since the current survey method was introduced in 2002.
However, Nikkei said a downward trend is being detected even amid such overwhelming support. In the late-March survey, the approval rating surged to 72%, but fell to 69% in late April, and dropped again to 66% in this survey. It has declined for two straight months.
In another survey, the drop was larger. In a poll conducted by the Mainichi Shimbun on May 23–24, the Takaichi Cabinet's approval rating came in at 50% and was shown to have declined for three consecutive months.
The standout change is the makeup of the support base. Among Liberal Democratic Party supporters, 96% said they support the Cabinet, effectively remaining consolidated. In contrast, approval among unaffiliated voters who do not back any specific party was 45%, down 4 percentage points from the previous survey.
By age, the defection of younger people was notable. Approval for the Cabinet among those 39 and younger was still the highest at 73%, but it plunged 7 percentage points from a month earlier. Over the same period, those in their 40s–50s fell 1 percentage point, and those 60 and older fell 2 percentage points.
Japanese media see rising prices as the main cause of the youth drift. In a survey conducted by the Mainichi Shimbun in March, only 19% responded that they positively evaluate the Takaichi administration's measures on prices. In contrast, 39% said they "do not evaluate them positively."
As reasons for negative evaluations, many noted, "No substantive measures are visible for price issues," and "There seems to be no will to improve inflation and the weak yen."
In this Nikkei survey as well, 49% of respondents cited "measures on prices" as the top issue Prime Minister Takaichi should address first. They viewed the cost of living as more urgent than diplomacy, security, or constitutional revision.
Tomizaki Takashi, a professor in the Department of Political Science at Komazawa University, told Nikkei, "Among the support bases of the Democratic Party for the People and the Sanseitō, which initially supported strongly, and among young people, approval appears to be relatively declining." He added, "Among young people and non–Liberal Democratic Party supporters, there is a high possibility of dissatisfaction that, prioritizing the economy, livelihoods, and measures on prices over ideology, the administration's economic policies are not leading to improvements in daily life."