Fumio Kishida, Japan’s unpopular PM, has support of just 10% of public: poll

Only 10.4 per cent of the Japanese public want Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to win the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership race slated for September and continue serving as premier, the latest Kyodo News poll showed on Sunday.

In the nationwide telephone survey, conducted over two days from Saturday, the approval rating for Kishida’s Cabinet was 22.2 per cent, 2.0 percentage points down from a previous 24.2 per cent in May, underpinning the public’s continued dissatisfaction with his policy management.

On the other hand, the disapproval rate for Kishida’s Cabinet stood at 62.4 per cent, roughly unchanged from the previous poll.

Against the backdrop of Kishida’s unpopularity, 36.6 per cent said they want him to step down as prime minister as soon as possible.

A total of 78.9 per cent of respondents in the poll said a revised law to reform political funding rules enacted by Japan’s parliament last week does not solve the issue of money in politics.

The bill for the amended political funds control law was submitted to the Diet by the LDP in May following a slush funds scandal that has eroded public trust in politics.

Kishida has claimed the revised law will make political fundraising more transparent, while opposition parties have criticised it as falling far short of helping to resolve the issue.

On a question about a 40,000 yen (US$250) income and residence tax cut the government began at the beginning of this month, 69.6 per cent said they do not think it helps struggling households to make ends meet amid rising costs.

Regarding the reporting rules for policy activity funds provided by parties to senior lawmakers, there were growing calls for the receipts of such funds to be disclosed after 10 years or for the