Despite Revamp, Kishida's Cabinet Approval Sinks To 25%

The approval rating for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's Cabinet stood at 25% in the most recent nationwide public opinion poll conducted by Mainichi Shimbun.

Kishida recently reshuffled his Cabinet and appointed Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) executives on September 13. I Photo: PM's Office of Japan X

This tied the record-low level of support that his administration experienced in December 2022, as reported by Junya Higuchi for Mainichi Shimbun on September 18, 2023.

The approval rate dropped by 1 percentage point from the previous survey conducted on August 26 and 27. The disapproval rate remained at 68%, the same as in the August poll.

Kishida recently reshuffled his Cabinet and appointed Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) executives on September 13. When respondents were asked whether these changes had raised their expectations for his Cabinet, 77% said they had not, while only 10% said they had.

Support for the Cabinet had been declining since June due to a series of issues related to the "My Number" ID system and has remained relatively stable since August.

It appears that Kishida's personnel changes have had only a limited impact on bolstering support. The previous record low rating in December 2022 followed a series of ministerial resignations due to various issues, including "politics and money" scandals.

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