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Kishida’s Support Tanks After Replacing Scandal-Hit Cabinet
(Bloomberg) -- Support for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida fell to fresh lows in polls taken after he reshuffled his cabinet to contain a funding scandal that threatens the future of his government.
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A survey by the Mainichi Shimbun Dec. 16-17 found approval of his cabinet slumped by 5 percentage points from last month to 16%, the lowest since he took office in October 2021. His disapproval rate rose to 79%, the highest since the newspaper started conducting such polls more than seven decades ago.
A separate Nikkei survey found support dropped 4 percentage points to 26%, a level often seen as the danger zone for Japanese premiers. Other polls showed similar results.
The polls suggest pressure will remain on Kishida after he replaced four ministers last week who are among lawmakers accused of concealing income generated from fundraising events. The scandal has rocked the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and fueled speculation that it may consider changing its leader before his term ends in September.
About 67% of respondents to the Nikkei poll said Kishida is responsible for the political funding issue, while 28% disagreed.
Tokyo prosecutors have started voluntary questioning of lawmakers suspected of involvement in the slush fund at an LDP faction, local media including Asahi Shimbun reported. The money is estimated to have amounted to ¥500 million ($3.5 million) over the past five years, according to the report.
The scandal is also hurting the party. While the LDP traditionally dominates Japanese politics and has retained higher support rates than any of the opposition parties, its approval rating dropped to 26%, the lowest since Kishida took office, according to a separate Kyodo poll.
Still, the next general election doesn’t need to be held until 2025.
Kishida’s popularity has also been hurt by data breaches surrounding national “My Number” identification cards and concerns over the funding of record defense spending in the budget.
Other Poll Results
Approval for Kishida’s cabinet fell 2 percentage points to 23%, the lowest since the LDP returned to power in 2012, according to a telephone poll in the Asahi newspaper conducted Dec. 16-17
A separate TV Asahi poll showed approval fell 4.8 percentage points to 21.3%, the lowest since he took office in 2021
Support for his cabinet inched up 1 percentage point to 25% in a Yomiuri poll taken Dec. 15-17
(Updates with other survey results at the end of the story. An earlier version corrected the first deck headline to show disapproval rose)
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