Issue Watch
Track global public opinion on current issues.
- 2008: Race for the White House
- 2008: The U.S. Electoral College
- Abortion
- Africa
- Angela Merkel
- Death Penalty
- Economy and Globalization
- Environment
- European Union
- George W. Bush
- Global Warming
- Gordon Brown
- Hamas
- Immigration
- Iran
- Iraq War
- Kevin Rudd
- Latin America
- New Zealand Election 2008
- Nicolas Sarkozy
- North Korea
- Oil and Gas
- Same-Sex Marriage
- Silvio Berlusconi
- Stem Cell Research
- Stephen Harper
- Terrorism
- U.S. Election 2008 - The Democrats
- U.S. Election 2008 - The Republicans
- U.S. Election 2008: The Primaries
- Vladimir Putin
- Yasuo Fukuda
Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research
Support for Cabinet Dwindles Again in Japan
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - More people in Japan are dissatisfied with the current administration, according to a poll by Yomiuri. 64.7 per cent of respondents disapprove of the appointed cabinet’s performance, up 6.3 points since April.
In September 2007, Yasuo 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 May 20, Fukuda pledged to increase the amount of aid his country provides to Africa, saying, "Japan will double its ODA [aid package] to Africa by 2012 in order to promote African development, focused mainly in building road networks and other infrastructure, improving reproductive health care, raise agricultural productivity including doubling rice production, and provide safe drinking water."
Polling Data
Do you approve or disapprove of Yasuo Fukuda’s cabinet?
|
May 2008 |
Apr. 2008 |
Mar. 2008 |
|
|
Approve |
26.1% |
30.0% |
33.9% |
|
Disapprove |
64.7% |
58.4% |
59.1% |
Source: Yomiuri
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,837 Japanese voters, conducted on May 17 and May 18, 2008. Margin of error was provided.