Cabinet approval rating up to 52% after LDP's landslide win

Oct 26, 2017 | News On Japan

Oct 26, 2017 (the-japan-news.com) - The approval rating of the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was 52 percent, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun survey conducted on Monday and Tuesday in response to Sunday's House of Representatives election results, up 11 percentage points from the previous survey on Oct. 7 and 8.

The disapproval rating dropped to 37 percent from the previous survey figure of 46 percent.

Those who replied that the ruling camp winning more than two-thirds of the lower house seats was "good" hit 48 percent, exceeding 36 percent who said it was "not good." The ruling Liberal Democratic Party's overwhelming victory likely helped revive the Cabinet's approval rating in the latest survery.

It was the first time since the Sept. 8 to 10 survey that the Cabinet approval rating had returned to the 50-percent range.

The approval rating had dropped for two consecutive surveys conducted immediately after the lower house dissolution and before the start of the official election campaign, both of which showed the disapproval rating above the approval rating.

Following the launch of the second Abe Cabinet in 2012, the latest survey was the second time that the approval rating increased by more than 10 points. The other such jump came in a survey in September 2014, conducted immediately after the number of female Cabinet members was increased in a Cabinet reshuffle. At that time, the approval rating jumped 13 points to 64 percent.

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