More than three quarters of Japanese voters are unhappy with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s handling of price rises, according to a poll carried out by the Asahi newspaper.
About 77% of respondents to the survey carried out Sept. 16-17 said they didn’t rate his price policies positively, compared with 17% who said they did. The findings came in a poll that showed that overall support for Kishida’s cabinet had crept up by four percentage points to 37% following last week’s cabinet reshuffle.
Price rises have been outpacing wage increases, meaning households are feeling the pinch. That’s weighing on Kishida’s approval ratings as he faces a decision on whether to call a general election a year ahead of a party leadership vote.
Kishida has sought to ease the blow by extending subsidies on gasoline, electricity and household gas, a move approved of by 73% of respondents to the Asahi survey.
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The poll is the latest in a series to show lackluster support for Kishida’s cabinet after the reshuffle in which he kept his core economic policy team in place and increased the number of women ministers.
