Public support for the cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe rose 8.3 percentage points from October to 45.4% this month, outpacing its disapproval rate, which dropped 4.7 points to 37.1%, for the first time in two months, according to a Jiji Press opinion poll conducted on Nov. 10–13. The results appear to reflect the public’s positive response to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s victory in the Oct. 22 general election and U.S. President Donald Trump’s first presidential visit to Japan earlier this month.

When asked why they support the cabinet (multiple responses permitted), the responses were as follows: “there is no other appropriate person,” 21.1%; “the prime minister shows strong leadership,” 13.8%; “the prime minister is trustworthy,” 10.9%. When asked why they do not support the cabinet (multiple responses permitted), the responses were as follows: “the prime minister is not trustworthy,” 21.4%, making it the most frequent response; “nothing can be expected of the prime minister,” 15.2%; “bad policies,” 11.7%.

Votes critical of the Abe administration were divided up among various opposition parties in the Lower House election, and this led to the landslide victory of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Asked whether the opposition parties should reorganize for the next national election, 49.0% said that the individual opposition parties should act independently and 38.2% indicated that the opposition parties should link hands and form one party, revealing the public is not eager to see the opposition parties reorganize.

Asked what policy the parties should focus on if they join hands (multiple responses permitted), 51.9% said “social security for senior citizens,” 41.8% said “social security for the working generation, including support for childrearing,” 32.9% said “diplomacy and security,” and 30.6% said “amendment of Article 9.”  

The political party support rates were as follows: LDP, 27.9%, up 4.0 points from the previous month; Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, 5.4%, a doubling of the previous month’s figure; Komeito, 3.6%; Japanese Communist Party, 1.8%; Party of Hope, 1.5%; Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party), 1.3%; Democratic Party, 1.2%. Those not supporting any political party fell to 55.0%, down 2.2 points.

[The survey was conducted on Nov. 10–13 through individual interviews. For the survey, a total of 2,000 people were sampled from among men and women, aged 18 and over, across the nation. The valid response rate was 63.0%.]

Trend in public support for political parties (%)