Support for the Government of Japan falls to 40.2 percent, the lowest figure since his inauguration

Sep. 19 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Japanese population’s approval rating for the government has fallen to 40.2 percent, the lowest figure since Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took office.
in early October last year, according to a survey by the Kyodo news agency.

The drop in popularity of Kishida and his government team is even more noticeable considering the good results recently obtained in the elections for the Chamber of Councilors (upper house) and also if one looks back to the month of August, the date in which the last poll was launched and which gave the prime minister more than 54 percent approval.

According to the aforementioned agency, these poor figures come at a time when the ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party, is trying to distance itself from the controversial links of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, assassinated in early July, with the religious organization Unification Church.

Abe’s confessed killer had singled out the Japanese politician for promoting the Unification Church, which ended up bankrupting his mother because of the excess donations she gave them. The religious organization had previously been questioned about its donation system.

Now the figure of the late Abe has fallen in part in disgrace, since more than 60 percent of those surveyed are opposed to the former prime minister receiving a state funeral, an aspect that, according to the demographic study, has been a important factor to understand the disenchantment with the Government.

Kishida has come out in favor of holding a state funeral for Abe, arguing that it is the “appropriate” ceremony given the achievements of Japan’s longest-serving prime minister. However, more than 72 percent of those surveyed consider the cost of the funeral to be extremely high.

After Abe’s ties to the Unification Church became known, the Liberal Democratic Party published a report in early September detailing that 179 lawmakers, nearly half of the party, had some kind of contact with the group.

Kishida, for his part, has said on occasion that his party will demand that its legislators cut ties with the Unification Church, although more than 80 percent of those surveyed in the recent study believe that the party’s response to breaking links with the religious group have been insufficient.