TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s poll ratings have rebounded a month after disastrous election results left his premiership hanging by a thread, a clutch of surveys showed Monday.
Ishiba took the helm of the long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) last year and has since lost his majority in both houses of parliament, most recently in upper chamber elections in July.
But the self-confessed defence policy “geek” and maker of model ships has defied calls to resign from within the party, which has governed Japan almost non-stop since the 1950s.
According to one poll by the Yomiuri Shimbun daily published Monday, the approval rating for Ishiba’s cabinet was 39 percent, a record 17 points higher than after the July 20 vote.
More respondents (50 per cent) now think Ishiba should remain than resign (42 per cent), the questionnaire showed, a reversal from July, when 54 per cent said he should go and 35 per cent stay.
Another poll conducted by Kyodo News put support at 35.4 per cent, up 12.5 points from last month after the upper house election, while the disapproval rating stood at 49.8 per cent.
A third survey by the Mainichi Shimbun put backing for the prime minister at 33 per cent, a rise of four points, the first time it has been over 30 per cent since February.
The Yomiuri put the recovery down to the recent trade deal with the United States and efforts by Ishiba’s government to curb the recent meteoric rise in rice prices.
US President Donald Trump announced a “massive” trade deal with Japan only two days after the upper house election, cutting threatened US tariffs to 15 per cent from 25 per cent, while lowering those on cars to the same level.
Voter backing of Ishiba’s handling of US trade negotiations rose to 42 per cent from 29 per cent in June.
An overwhelming 86 per cent said they approved of the government’s decision to shift policy toward increasing rice production.
Rice prices have skyrocketed due to supply problems linked to a very hot summer in 2023 and panic-buying after a “megaquake” warning last year, amongst other factors.
Ishiba has appointed a new farm minister – the popular Shinjiro Koizumi, 44, a potential challenger – and his government has released emergency stocks in an effort to bring down prices.
According to media reports, the LDP plans to conduct a review of last month’s election, to be followed by a decision on whether to hold a party leadership election.
Ishiba, 68, said after a recent LDP plenary meeting, where some lawmakers reportedly urged him to step down, that he would “consider appropriately” the results of this investigation.
“I’d like to deepen my thinking as various things are going on simultaneously,” he said.
“Even within the LDP, passion for holding a party leadership election… has been diminishing,” said Mikitaka Masuyama, politics professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
“They may face criticism that instead of doing their jobs and addressing everyday life struggles like inflation, the LDP is holding a party leadership election,” Masuyama told AFP.–AFP
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