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Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research
Japanese Cabinet’s Approval Dives to 40%
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - More people in Japan are dissatisfied with the administration of Yasuo Fukuda, according to a poll by Nikkei. 40 per cent of respondents approve of the prime minister’s cabinet, down 15 points since October.
In September 2007, Fukuda was elected as the new leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and officially sworn in as Japan’s prime minister, substituting Shinzo Abe. Fukuda served as chief cabinet secretary during the premierships of Yoshiro Mori and Junichiro Koizumi. He is also the son of former Japanese head of government Takeo Fukuda.
Fukuda retained many of Abe’s collaborators in the new Japanese cabinet. Nobutaka Machimura—who served as foreign minister under Abe—was appointed as chief cabinet secretary, Masahiko Komura is now in charge of foreign affairs, and Shigeru Ishiba has taken over as defence minister.
An election to renew half of the House of Councillors seats took place in July 2007. Final results gave the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) 60 of the 121 seats at stake, with the governing LDP winning 37 mandates. The opposition—with 137 seats—now holds a majority in the upper house of Japan’s Diet for the first time since the LDP was founded in 1955.
On Feb. 18, Fukuda expressed dissatisfaction with recent developments in Okinawa—including the alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl by a U.S. marine—saying, "We must consult with (U.S. state secretary Condoleezza) Rice to ensure these kinds of incidents stop. We must find out the reason why this is happening."
The U.S. has stationed troops in Japan since the end of World War II. More than 40,000 soldiers are currently deployed in Japan, most of them in Okinawa.
Polling Data
Do you approve or disapprove of Yasuo Fukuda’s cabinet?
|
Feb. 2008 |
Oct. 2007 |
|
|
Approve |
40% |
55% |
|
Disapprove |
48% |
31% |
Source: Nikkei
Methodology: Interviews with 1,530 Japanese adults, conducted from Feb. 15 to Feb. 17, 2008. No margin of error was provided.