A recent media poll conducted by Kyodo, Japan's national news agency, showed deepening Japanese public dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as he prepares for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party leadership race. Of the respondents to the survey being circulated, only 10.4 percent supported Kishida, a sign of the depth of his unpopularity.
The weekend telephone survey also indicated a fall in the approval rating for Kishida's Cabinet – from 24.2 percent in May to 22.2 percent. On the other hand, the disapproval rate remained unchanged at 62.4 percent.
A total of 36.6 percent of respondents called for Kishida to step down immediately over the issue. In addition, an overwhelming 78.9 percent said the revised political funds law that Kishida has claimed is aimed at promoting transparency has done little to fix problems related to political money—the proposal he was hit for pushing during Diet deliberations this year.
More public skepticism was, in this case, witnessed when regarding the 40,000 yen tax break by the government, where an amount slightly over $250 was considered by 69.6% to be too little to ease the livelihood of the public against increases in cost. Furthermore, 90.4% of the respondents felt that newfound regulations on political activity funds lacked strength.
The survey captured broad-based public views from the poll, as it was conducted among 431 household members and 625 mobile phone users.
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