(Nikkei: July 28, 2015 – p. 4)

 The Abe cabinet’s public disapproval rating has now topped its approval rating in all of the latest public opinion surveys conducted by newspapers. This is apparently attributable in part to confusion resulting from the House of Representatives’ July 16 passage of the government’s proposed security-related bills. There is a growing sense of crisis within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan and its coalition partner, the Komeito party, as there are a number of impending issues that are very important and controversial, such as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s postwar 70th anniversary statement, the reactivation of currently offline nuclear power plants, and negotiations in the run-up to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

 In the media polls up until June, the cabinet’s support rate was consistently higher than its nonsupport rate. This trend changed in July, shortly before the House of Representatives’ vote on the security bills. The Abe cabinet’s nonsupport rate topped its support rate for the first time in the surveys conducted by the Asahi Shimbun and the Mainichi Shimbun early in the month. Its support and nonsupport rates switched places in the latest surveys conducted by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Yomiuri Shimbun, and Sankei Shimbun as well.

 “All we can do is to accept this with humility.” Sadakazu Tanigaki, secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, said to reporters yesterday in the Diet. One LDP executive voiced a strong sense of crisis, saying “the drop is more serious than I could have imagined.” (Abridged)

 Cabinet support, nonsupport switch places in media polls (%)