Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister TAKAICHI Sanae’s cabinet had an approval rating of 72 percent in the latest poll by Nikkei and TV Tokyo, up 3 percentage points from the February survey.

The poll was taken after her meeting with US President Donald Trump, and the approval rating topped 70 percent for the first time since December. 

Favorable views of Takaichi’s diplomacy and her meeting with Trump were seen as boosting her popularity, with 65 percent of respondents giving a positive assessment. A similar number supported the government’s response to soaring crude oil prices due to the worsening conflict in Iran.

The top reason for supporting Takaichi’s cabinet was “trustworthy character,” at 34 percent, followed by “strong leadership” with 33 percent. The most common reason for not supporting the cabinet was “a cabinet dominated by the Liberal Democratic Party,” at 47 percent, followed by “poor policies” and “untrustworthy character,” at 31 percent each.

Support for Takaichi’s LDP remained unchanged at 41 percent. The LDP’s junior coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, saw its support dip 1 point to 4 percent.

Among the opposition parties, the Democratic Party for the People’s support slipped 1 point to 6 percent, Sanseito also sank 1 point to 5 percent, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan logged a 2-point gain to 4 percent, the Japanese Communist Party notched a 1-point increase to 4 percent, the Centrist Reform Alliance saw a 5-point drop to 3 percent, and Team Mirai suffered a 3-point decline to 3 percent.