The approval rating for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's cabinet has fallen to 35.9 percent, the lowest level since he took office last year, a Kyodo News poll showed Sunday, adding to signs of public discontent with the government's determination to hold the Tokyo Olympics despite the coronavirus pandemic.
The disapproval rating rose to 49.8 percent, the highest on record for the Suga administration launched in September. With the Summer Games opening next Friday, more than 30 percent still believe the event should be canceled.
In the previous survey conducted last month, the support rate stood at 44.0 percent, while 42.2 percent disapproved of the cabinet.
In the two-day survey from Saturday, 87.0 percent of respondents expressed some degree of concern about Tokyo hosting the Olympics and Paralympics amid the pandemic, while 67.9 percent doubted the effectiveness of the latest coronavirus state of emergency in the capital.
Following the retraction of a government plan to request lenders and liquor wholesalers to help enforce a ban on restaurants serving alcohol during the state of emergency, 72.3 percent said Suga was responsible for the confusion caused, while 26.1 percent said Yasutoshi Nishimura, the minister in charge of the coronavirus response, who suggested the plan, should step down.
