Kishida approval rating sinks to new low of 43%: Nikkei survey

Sep 20 (Nikkei) - Support for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's cabinet plumbed a new low in the latest Nikkei/TV Tokyo poll, as the public expressed discontent with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's investigation of ties between its members and the Unification Church.

The cabinet's approval rating stood at 43%, down from 57% in August, according to the survey conducted from Friday to Sunday. It marked a low for a government that launched in October 2021. The rating declined for four straight months.

The previous low was 55% in February during Japan's sixth COVID-19 wave.

Disapproval climbed to 49%. This marked the first time that those who disapproved outnumbered those who approved.

Support for the cabinet eroded on concerns over the LDP's ties to the Unification Church. The party released the results of its investigation into links between its Diet members and the religious organization, but 79% of survey respondents said the findings were insufficient, compared with 14% who thought them adequate.

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