Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the prime minister’s office on June 15 (Nobuo Fujiwara)

Only 28 percent of voters approve of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s plan to provide cash handouts to help households deal with rising prices, while 67 percent disapprove, according to an Asahi Shimbun survey.

The nationwide telephone survey was conducted on June 14 and 15, after Ishiba on June 13 said the government will provide 20,000 yen ($138) to each resident as a measure against high prices.

He said an additional 20,000 yen will be given to all children as well as adults in lower-income households that are exempt from residential tax.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner, Komeito, intend to include the payout plan in their campaign pledges for the Upper House election.

Only 21 percent of survey respondents in their 40s approve of the plan, compared with 36 percent among those 70 and older.

Among LDP supporters, 50 percent approve of the plan, while 46 percent voiced disapproval.

Supporters of Komeito were also evenly split over the payouts.

Overall, 18 percent of all respondents approve of Ishiba’s response to the rising cost of living, up from 12 percent in the May survey.

Seventy-two percent disapprove of his actions to fight inflation, down from 79 percent.

The increase in approval of Ishiba’s measures stems mainly from the positive responses from 28 percent of those aged 70 and over. The overwhelming majority of those who “do not approve” remained unchanged.

The higher cost of living, including recently soaring rice prices, is expected to be the main issue in the July 20 Upper House election.

The government has been releasing stockpiled rice in an effort to lower prices of the staple. Fifty percent of respondents said they expect the measure will reduce rice prices, but 43 percent do not expect it to be effective.

When the same question was asked in surveys conducted in April and May, 70 percent said they did not expect a drop in rice prices.

Regarding Shinjiro Koizumi, who took over as agriculture minister in late May, 68 percent approve of his efforts to address the rice issue, far more than the 26 percent who disapprove.

Public opinion on the rice issue has improved since Koizumi took over the Cabinet post, but this has yet to raise the overall level of the Ishiba administration’s reputation.

The Cabinet’s approval rating dipped slightly to 32 percent from 33 percent in the previous survey conducted in May. The disapproval rating was 52 percent, down from 56 percent in May.

The survey on eligible voters used landline and mobile phone numbers randomly generated by computer.

A total of 1,256 valid responses were received: 486 (48 percent response rate) from 1,010 landline numbers of households with an eligible voter, and 770 (38 percent response rate) from 2,008 voters connected via mobile phones.

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