Japanese cabinet’s approval rate drops to 33%

The approval rate for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s cabinet declined for the third straight month to 33 per cent, an opinion poll has revealed. According to the opinion poll conducted by national broadcaster NHK, the approval rate, down five percentage points from July, hit the same low level as seen last November and this January since Kishida took office, Xinhua news agency reported. Meanwhile, the disapproval rate for the incumbent cabinet rose four points to 45 percent, with “no expectations for policies”, “lack of executive power” and “unreliable personalities” listed among the top reasons for disapproval. The Japanese government is facing criticism over errors in the My Number ID card system, and the bribery scandal of foreign ministry official Masatoshi Akimoto also weighed on the approval rate, NHK reported. Earlier this month, a Jiji Press opinion poll showed that the support rate for Kishida’s cabinet dived to 26.6 per cent in August. It was under the key threshold of 30 per cent, which is commonly viewed as a danger zone for the cabinet.