Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Despite an active schedule, including overseas trips, Japanese Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio has failed to convince many voters in Japan that he’s the right man for the job.

His approval rating dropped for the third straight month to 33 percent, the second-lowest level since he became prime minister in October 2021, an Asahi Shimbun survey showed.

Meanwhile the disapproval rating rose to 54 percent from 50 percent.

Seventy-nine percent of voters in the nationwide telephone survey conducted on August 19 and 20 said the prime minister has not demonstrated leadership in dealing with various problems, especially the My Number personal identification system. Only 13 percent said Kishida has shown leadership over the issue.

The support rate for the Liberal Democratic Party was 28 percent, unchanged from the July survey.

Earlier in August, prosecutors searched the offices of LDP Lower House member AKIMOTO Masatoshi on suspicion of receiving bribes from a wind farm operator.

Fifty-two percent of respondents said the image of the Kishida Cabinet remains unchanged after the scandal, while 45 percent said the image had worsened.

A poll by Kyodo News saw a similar approval rating for Kishida at 33.6 percent, while the disapproval rating reached the highest point since December at 50.0 percent.

According to the Kyodo survey, 79.8 percent of the respondents lacked confidence in Kishida’s leadership in addressing public anxiety over the My Number system, following revelations of personal information leaks and registration errors.

A plan to scrap health insurance certificates and combine their functionality with My Number cards next year has remained unpopular, with an unchanged 77.0 percent calling for its postponement or cancellation.

A total of 88.1 percent were also concerned over the potential economic damage stemming from a government plan to discharge treated radioactive water from the disaster-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex into the Pacific Ocean.

Much of the public also appears unenthusiastic about the government’s plan to boost childcare spending to reverse the declining birthrate, with a total of 69.2 percent saying they have either “no expectations” or “do not expect much” from the measure.