Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Early polls assessing the Cabinet of new Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida showed different results with a Kyodo poll showing an approval rating of 55.7%, but a Mainichi survey putting the rate at 49%.

His predecessor,  Yoshihide Suga, saw approval ratings of around 66% when he took over from Shinzo Abe, but Suga’s ratings dived in a short period of time and were around 30% by the time he resigned.

Voters suggested that COVID-19 and the economy were the main issues Kishida should tackle.

Approval ratings tend to be high at the inception of a Cabinet as the public have high expectations of a new lineup, and Kishida has called an early election at the end of this month.

The Mainichi newspaper termed the launch of the Kishida Cabinet as “sluggish” and noted it was the second lowest rating in 20 years behind the 45% when the Taro Aso Cabinet was established in September 2008.

In the reasons for not supporting the new leadership, 58% of respondents said it was “because politics is unlikely to change” and 20% of respondents said it was “because the policy is unlikely to have expectations.” Respondents also said that they see no likelihood of change happening with the new government.

Around  59% of the respondents think that the administration of Prime Minister Kishida will be “negative” suggesting that Kishida has some hard work to do in order win over the voters during the upcoming election.