Cabinet Reshuffle Fails To Repair Kishida's Approval Ratings

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida's administration continues to hemorrhage support despite this week's reshuffle of Cabinet and the ruling party's executive line-up, opinion polls from Yomiuri Shimbun and Nikkei/TV Tokyo showed.

• In a survey taken by Nikkei/TV Tokyo over the past two days, 44% of respondents were not satisfied with the revamped Cabinet and ruling party leadership, while 30% were happy with the changes. Cabinet approval rating dropped 1pp to 57%, while disapproval rose 3pp to 35%, the highest level since Kishida took office.
• In a Yomiuri poll, 45% of respondents said they liked the Cabinet reshuffle, while 34% were not happy about it (it seems they were not asked about their opinion on the line-up itself). Still, approval of the Kishida Cabinet fell 6pp to the record low of 51%, while the disapproval rate rose 2pp to 34%.
• Both surveys showed that Japanese voters were not happy about Prime Minister Kishida's handling of the ruling party's links to the Unification Church. In the Nikkei/TV Tokyo poll, 76% of respondents said their concerns were not dispelled. Meanwhile, 55% told Yomiuri that they did not think measure taken by Kishida were adequate.
• The ruling coalition will face its next electoral test during the September 11 gubernatorial race in Okinawa. Although the LDP secured a resounding victory in the Upper House election last month, its Okinawa candidate narrowly lost to incumbent Yoichi Iha, an independent candidate backed by the All Okinawa group which includes the prefecture's Governor Denny Tamaki.