Jiji News Agency and other news agencies reported on the 21st that the approval rating of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has plummeted to 14.6% as the Japanese political world is shaken by political funding corruption.
According to the media, in a January opinion poll conducted by Jiji News, the approval rating for the Liberal Democratic Party fell to the lowest level since the survey began in 1960, excluding the opposition party era.
The media pointed out that the shock is spreading as it becomes clear that Japanese voters’ harsh gaze on suspicions of political funding between factions is directed not only at Fumio Kishida’s cabinet but also at the Liberal Democratic Party.
A current member of the Kishida cabinet said, “The approval rating numbers show the reality. “Even if you look around the region, you can feel that faith in the Liberal Democratic Party is greatly decreasing,” he said, expressing a sense of crisis.
The political fund corruption scandal is shaking the ruling party, including the decision to disband the Abe faction, Kishida faction, and Nikai faction within the Liberal Democratic Party, with the special department of the Tokyo District Prosecutors’ Office indicting those involved.
From January to October last year, the Liberal Democratic Party’s approval rating remained in the 21-24% range. Meanwhile, the Kishida cabinet’s approval rating recovered from 26.5% in January to 38.2% in May, but fell again to 26.3% in October.
Still, the approval rating for the Liberal Democratic Party was assessed to have remained relatively stable.
However, the approval rating showed a clear downward trend in November of last year, when suspicions of slush funds from the Liberal Democratic Party faction arose as a watershed.
The approval rating, which fell below the 20% mark at 19.1% in November, dropped by 18.3% in December and fell by another 3.7 percentage points as the year passed.
The cabinet approval rating was sluggish at 17.1% in December and 18.6% in January 2024.
The lowest approval rating for the ruling party so far was 15.7% in July 2009 during the Aso cabinet. The following month, the Liberal Democratic Party suffered a crushing defeat in the House of Representatives election and was reduced to the opposition party.
Under the Liberal Democratic Party regime, it is not often that the party’s approval rating reaches 10%. Even in 1988 and 1989, when the Recruiting Incident hit, it did not fall below 20%.
The first case was in June 1995, during the cabinet of Tomiichi Murayama, when the Liberal Democratic Party and the Socialist Party established a coalition government, breaking the 20% mark.
Meanwhile, in the January opinion poll, the number of independents who responded that they do not support a political party reached 66.8%, up 4.3 percentage points from the previous month.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.