MNI BRIEF: PM Kishida's Approval Rating Hits New Low - Press

Support for Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has fallen further, a weekend poll by Nikkei and TV Tokyo finds, after the leader floated a tax cut to ease the pain of high prices, the Nikkei reported on Monday.

The approval rating for Kishida's cabinet dropped 9 percentage points from September to 33%, the poll found, the lowest since he took office in October 2021. His cabinet's disapproval rating rose 8 points to 59%. The top reason for not supporting the cabinet was "poor policies" at 52%, followed by "poor leadership" at 34%.

A 33% approval rating is also the lowest for any Liberal Democratic Party government since the LDP returned to power in 2012.

The new poll, conducted from Friday to Sunday, follows Kishida's proposal for a one-time income tax reduction as part of an economic stimulus package.

Nearly two-thirds of respondents said the tax cut was not appropriate as a response to high inflation, compared with 24% who approved of the measure.