Approval rate of Japan's Kishida cabinet drops to record low: media poll

Tokyo [Japan], October 16: The support rate for the Japanese cabinet dropped to 32.3 percent, the lowest since its launch, a survey by national news agency Kyodo showed Sunday.
The latest opinion poll has shown that the approval rating for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's cabinet plunged from 39.8 in the previous poll conducted in September, a record low since Kishida took office in October 2021.
Meanwhile, the disapproval rating rose to a record high of 52.5 percent from 39.7 percent in September.
The survey also found that 58.6 percent of respondents expect the upcoming economic package, planned to be compiled by the end of this month to mitigate the pain of rising prices for everyday goods, will be ineffective, Kyodo reported.
A total of 82.1 percent of the surveyed said they were "worried" or "somewhat worried" about the financial resources that the government needs to secure as it works to strengthen defense capabilities and grapple with the declining births.
Among the surveyed, some 61.1 percent believed Kishida's ruling Liberal Democratic Party still has links with the controversial religious group Unification Church, formally called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.
Japan's education and culture ministry on Friday filed a request with a court for an order to dissolve the Unification Church, in a bid to deprive the group of its religious corporation status.
The survey conducted from Saturday to Sunday received valid responses from 410 households by landline and 616 mobile phone users.
Source: Xinhua