With the government’s announcement that the current economic recovery is thought to be the longest in postwar history, NHK asked respondents to its February public opinion survey if they have a tangible sense of economic recovery. A plurality of 66% of respondents said they “do not have a tangible sense of economic recovery,” while 8% said they do and 20% said they “can’t say either way.”

The nationwide survey was conducted by NHK over the three-day period of Feb. 9–11 on a computer-aided random digit dialing (RDD) basis and targeted men and women aged 18 or over with calls placed to landline and mobile phone numbers. Valid responses were received from 1,236 of the 2,180 people polled. The valid response rate was 57%.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to raise the consumption tax rate to 10% in October this year as scheduled.  Some 31% of respondents said they are “in favor” of this, while 41% said they are “opposed” and 21% said they are “undecided.”

When the consumption tax is raised, the government plans to implement countermeasures, including offering reward points to those who make purchases by credit card or other noncash means and issuing to low-income households “premium shopping vouchers” [with which they can make purchases in excess of the nominal value of the coupon]. Some 20% said that the measures are “excessive” while 21% said that they are” appropriate” and 35% said that they are “insufficient.”