Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at a news conference in Washington on Jan. 14. (Sayuri Ide)

An overwhelming 73 percent of voters feel that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s economic policies are “not promising,” although his Cabinet’s approval rating rose from a record low level, an Asahi Shimbun survey showed.

The nationwide telephone survey on Jan. 21 and 22 found that only 20 percent of respondents have confidence in his economic policies, less than half of the level when he took over as prime minister.

On the other hand, 58 percent of respondents supported his government’s policy to ease measures to tackle COVID-19 by downgrading it under the infectious diseases prevention law to the same level as seasonal influenza. Thirty-seven percent opposed the move.

The Kishida Cabinet’s approval rating was 35 percent, up from the record low of 31 percent marked in the previous survey in December.

At his first news conference this year, Kishida called for employers and labor unions to achieve “wage increases at a level higher than the rate of inflation.”

He also said the government would implement “other-dimensional” policies to halt the falling birthrate.

The survey showed a continuing increase of public skepticism toward his economic policies.

When Kishida formed his first Cabinet in October 2021, 42 percent of survey respondents said his economic policies were promising.

The ratio dropped to 25 percent in a survey taken in October last year, and it fell further in the latest survey.

The figure among supporters of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party was just 37 percent, while it was only 11 percent among unaffiliated respondents.

Overall, only 17 percent of survey respondents said they believe Kishida’s economic policies will lead to pay hikes, while 74 percent replied they wouldn’t.

Only 25 percent of LDP supporters and 12 percent of unaffiliated respondents said they believe the prime minister’s policies would result in salary increases.

On Kishida’s policies to stem the declining birthrate, 73 percent said they “do not look promising,” while 20 percent said they appear promising.

Only 32 percent of LDP supporters and 13 percent of unaffiliated respondents showed optimisim toward his policies to reverse the sliding birthrate.

At the news conference, Kishida said the government will double its budget for child-related matters.

Fifty-four percent of respondents were opposed to the idea of increasing the public burden to widen the children-related budget, compared with 42 percent who supported the move.

Male respondents were almost evenly split on the issue, with 48 percent accepting more of a burden and 49 percent against it.

By contrast, 58 percent of female respondents were opposed to bearing more of a burden, compared with 37 percent who would accept it.

Expanded defense budgets and tax hikes to fund the spending are also among major issues to be discussed in the regular Diet session, which convened on Jan. 23.

Forty-four percent of respondents supported the government’s plan to increase the five-year defense spending from fiscal 2023 by around 1.5 times to 43 trillion yen ($330 billion), while 49 percent opposed it.

Seventy-one percent said they were against raising taxes by 1 trillion yen to fund the increased defense spending, with only 24 percent backing the idea.

The survey was conducted by contacting fixed telephone numbers and mobile phone numbers selected at random by computer.

The survey takers received 535 valid responses, or 50 percent, from 1,065 fixed numbers of households with at least one eligible voter each.

There were 901 valid responses, or 43 percent, from 2,075 mobile phone numbers of eligible voters. Valid responses totaled 1,436.

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The Asahi Shimbun

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