Fukuda's Disapproval Rating Rises to 54% in Newspaper Surveys

Reviewed by Takahiro MIYAO

Article:
Fukuda's Disapproval Rating Rises to 54% in Newspaper Surveys
Bloomberg.com (3/24/2008)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/
news?pid=20601101&sid=aC1A6IvviEB8&refer=japan

Comments:

It is reported in the Bloomberg news article linked above, referring to the latest Nikkei newspaper survey, that Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's disapproval rating increased 6 percentage points from February to 54 percent this past weekend, whereas his approval rating fell 9 points to 31 percent. Essentially the same results have obtained by recent polls conducted by other newspapers. As is expected, a lack of leadership is the main reason for the increase in his disapproval rating, while his personality, not his policy, is cited as a major factor among those who still support him.

There is no surprise in this dismal result, as Prime Minister Fukuda seems incapable of dealing with oppositions in the Diet regarding the appointment of a governor of the Bank of Japan, the handling of the temporary gas tax, and other key political issues. Although the main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan, is also criticized by some of the people surveyed, a majority of respondents seem to blame the Fukuda administration and the ruling coalition for the current political deadlock, which will adversely affect people’s daily lives after April 1, when various temporary tax and subsidy measures are to expire unintentionally.

Then, the remaining question may be how long Mr. Fukuda should stay in office. Some newspaper survey shows that about half of the people polled said he would have to resign within a year, and a half of them said he should go right away.

Acknowledgment:
This review is adopted from the following blog (with its Japanese translation):
http://glocom.blog59.fc2.com/blog-date-20080324.html