Japan PM Youshihide Suga's cabinet ratings witness sharp downfall amid Tokyo Olympics

Despite the fact that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are well underway, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's cabinet has a 34% approval rating, according to a recent Nikkei/TV Tokyo poll. According to the Tokyo-based news outlet, the study, which interviewed 998 Japanese residents aged 18 and above on Friday and Saturday, Suga's cabinet approval rating dropped nine percentage points from June, making it the lowest since he assumed office last September.

As reported by Nikkei, it has been a year since the Japanese public gave the government a rating of less than 40% approval. Residents granted the cabinet of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a 38% approval rating in June 2020, under his administration. The poll was conducted roughly four days after the commencement of the Olympics in Japan on Friday, July 23 which has been marred by a number of athletes and staff members testing positive for COVID-19 upon arrival in Tokyo. The city declared its fourth state of emergency earlier this month, citing a low vaccination rate as a problem.

23% of Japan completely vaccinated

Approximately 23% of Japan is completely vaccinated, and COVID-19 cases in Tokyo have steadily increased throughout July, according to John Hopkins University data. Approximately 65% of survey participants believe the country's immunizations "are not going smoothly," while only 29% believe vaccinations "are going smoothly."

The top reason for respondents' dissatisfaction with the cabinet was "lack of leadership," which was cited by 53% of those polled. According to Nikkei, almost 35% also mentioned "bad government and party management." The reason for their good rating was "the Liberal Democratic Party plays a central role," which is Suga's political party, according to 36% of respondents, the greatest number among those who approved of the government. With a response rate of 47.1 percent, the Nikkei/TV Tokyo survey used random-digital dialing.