Takaichi Cabinet’s approval rating slips below 50% for first time, poll finds

Public support for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Cabinet fell by 5.3 percentage points from the previous month to 49.0% in July, standing below 50% for the first time since she took office in October last year, a Jiji Press survey showed Thursday.

The proportion of respondents who did not support the Cabinet stood at 25.2%, while 25.7% had no opinion, according to the July survey, conducted for four days through Monday.

Opposition parties refused to join parliamentary deliberations at one point during the ongoing parliament session as Takaichi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party (JIP), tried to force through their key bills, including one to establish a secondary capital.