Japanese unimpressed with stimulus steps, Kishida’s ratings hit low – poll

Nearly two-thirds of Japanese are not impressed with the government’s new economic stimulus measures as support for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida slipped to its lowest yet, a Kyodo news poll found on Sunday.

The telephone survey found 62.5% of respondents did not highly rate the 17 trillion yen ($110 billion) package, announced Thursday, of tax cuts and other measures.

Support for Kishida’s cabinet fell 4.0 percentage points from three weeks earlier to 28.3%, its lowest in the Kyodo survey since he took office in October 2021, and in line with other recent surveys. His disapproval rating rose 4.2 points to 56.7% in the survey conducted from Friday to Sunday.

It was the first time in the Kyodo poll that approval for a Liberal Democratic Party-led government has fallen below 30% since 2009.

Kishida’s measures, aimed at cushioning the economic blow from rising inflation, including cutting annual income and other taxes by 40,000 yen ($270) per person and paying 70,000 yen to low-income households.