(Tokyo Shimbun: February 4, 2015 – p. 22)
Nihon Yoron Chosakai, a nationwide public opinion polling organization made up of Kyodo News and a total of 38 media outlets from among its subscribers including the Tokyo Shimbun, conducted a face-to-face public opinion survey across the nation on Feb. 14-15 to probe public attitudes on the forthcoming quadrennial nationwide local elections. In the survey, respondents were asked about the ruling and opposition parties’ backing the same candidate in an election. In response to this question, a total of 64% answered that it’s “problematical” or “somewhat problematical.” Meanwhile, there are governors and other local government heads who have been elected many times. In the survey, respondents were asked whether they think the number of times a person can be elected to public office should be limited. In the breakdown of answers to this question, affirmative answers substantially outnumbered negative ones, with “yes” accounting for a total of 63% and “no” for a total of 33%. Respondents were also asked whether they think Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s “Abenomics” economic policy measures will have an impact on localities. To this question, “yes” accounted for 29% and “no” for 67%, clearly showing that people view Abe administration’s economic policy in a harsh light. (Abridged)
Q: Which political parties do you support?
|
Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP or Jiminto) |
47.8 |
|
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ or Minshuto) |
12.2 |
|
Japan Innovation Party (JIP or Ishinnoto) |
5.1 |
|
Komeito (K or Komeito) |
3.8 |
|
Japanese Communist Party (JCP or Kyosanto) |
4.0 |
|
Social Democratic Party (SDP or Shaminto) |
1.0 |
|
People’s Life Party (PLP or Seikatsunoto) |
0.8 |
|
Party for Future Generations (PFG or Jisedainoto) |
0.1 |
|
Sunrise Party (SP or Taiyonoto) |
— |
|
Assembly to Energize Japan (AEJ or Nippon o Genkinisurukai) |
0.1 |
|
New Renaissance Party (NRP or Shinto Kaikaku) |
— |
|
Other political parties, groups |
0.1 |
|
None of the above (NOTA) |
22.3 |
|
Don’t know + no answer |
2.8 |
Polling methodology: For the survey, a total of 3,000 persons were sampled out of men and women, aged 20 and over, at 250 locations throughout the country on a stratified two-stage random-sampling basis, so as to represent the nation’s voting population of more than a 100 million. The survey was conducted by Nihon Yoron Chosakai over a period of two days, Feb. 14-15, on a face-to-face interview basis. Answers were obtained from 1,708 persons, excluding those who could not be interviewed because they had moved away or were traveling at the time, or for other reasons. The retrieval rate was 56.9%. In the breakdown of respondents, males accounted for 51.7% and females for 48.3%.
The survey excluded some districts in the three prefectures’ that were heavily damaged in the Great East Japan Earthquake.
