The approval rate for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Cabinet dropped to 26.3% this month, the lowest level since he took office in October 2021, a Jiji Press survey showed.
The approval rate slid 1.7 percentage points from last September, staying below 30% for the third straight month. Cabinets with approval ratings below that threshold are considered to be in the “danger zone.”
In the October survey, the Kishida Cabinet saw its disapproval rate rise 2.3 points to 46.3%, nearing its worst level of 47.4%, logged in August. Meanwhile, 27.4% of respondents said they do not know how to characterize the Kishida Cabinet.
The survey showed that 45.5% of respondents said they do not approve of Kishida’s reshuffling of his Cabinet and the leadership of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party last month. Only 10.2% said they approve of the shake-up, while 44.3% responded neither or that they did not know.
The fact that Kishida did not appoint a single woman as a state minister or parliamentary vice minister may have contributed to the unpopularity of the reshuffle.
The survey showed that 78.3% of respondents supported the government’s plan to seek a court order to dissolve the controversial religious group known as the Unification Church, while 3.2% expressed opposition and 18.5% said neither or that they did not know.
Of those who approve of the Kishida Cabinet, with multiple answers allowed, 11.4% said there is no one else suitable to serve as prime minister, followed by 5.8% who said they trust him and 4.5% who said they support the party that the prime minister leads.
Among those disapproving of the Cabinet, 26% said they have no hopes for the Cabinet, while 22.7% said its policies are bad and 18.1% said they cannot trust the prime minister.
In the survey, 2,000 people age 18 and older were interviewed nationwide over four days through Monday. Of them, 58.8% gave valid responses.