Monday’s Yomiuri front-paged a report on the results of its opinion poll conducted from Jan. 15 to 17, which found that public support for the Suga Cabinet dropped 6 points from last month to 39% and nonsupport rose 6 points to 49%. This is reportedly the first time for the nonsupport rate to exceed the support rate under the Suga administration. The paper wrote that the latest results reflected strong public discontent with the government’s response to COVID-19. Concerning the COVID-19 state of emergency declared for 11 prefectures, 42% of respondents said it should be expanded nationwide, 36% said it should be expanded to include more prefectures, and 19% said it should remain as is. On the GOJ’s measures against COVID-19, 66% expressed disapproval, up 4 points from last month, and 85% said there is not enough coordination between the central government and prefectural governments over the new coronavirus.

Sunday’s Mainichi also reported on the results of the opinion poll it jointly conducted with the Social Survey Research Center on Jan. 16, which found that public support for the Suga Cabinet dropped 7 points from last month to 33% and nonsupport rose 8 points to 57%. On the state of emergency declaration, 71% said it came too late, while 18% said it was appropriate. In addition, 50% said the state of emergency should be expanded nationwide, while 42% said it should not. As for COVID-19 measures under the Suga administration, 66% expressed disapproval, while 15% expressed approval.