Hatoyama Approval Still at 70%

Written By: guyjin on October 19, 2009 No Comment

Two polls, taken by Nikkei with TV Tokyo, as well as by Mainichi, showed the Hatoyama government still enjoys high support almost 50 days after their election victory. The Nikkei/TV Tokyo poll showed an approval rating of 73%, while Mainichi also had a rating of 72%.

In contrast, both polls also found that LDP leader Tanigaki is viewed unfavorably. In the Mainichi poll, just 40% viewed the LDP leader favorably, as opposed to 55% who did not. In the Nikkei/TV Tokyo poll, these figures were 29% and 57% respectively. Meanwhile, when asked who they would prefer as Prime Minister, Hatoyama led with 67% to just 12% for Tanigaki in the Nikkei/TV Tokyo poll. Even among LDP supporters, Hatoyama still managed 28% compared to Tanigaki’s 38%. It seems that the selection of Tanigaki by the LDP is playing out precisely as predicted…. (see Tanigaki Chosen as New Leader of Old LDP).

In spite of the glowing numbers for Hatoyama, and the more dismal ones for the leader of the opposition, the Japanese people still seem uncertain about whether or not the new government will have a significant impact on their lives. When asked in the Mainichi poll whether they feel that their lives will be improved thanks to the Hatoyama government policies, only 43% said that they did, while 45% said that they did not believe they would see any improvement.

In other issues, 80% of respondents to the Mainichi poll signalled that they approved of the Hatoyama government’s new style of leadership and policy development from the politicians down. 71% also approved of the plan to cut some 2.9 trillion yen from the Aso government’s stimulus package. Opinion on the decision to stop construction of the Yanba Dam was more mixed, but still saw a polarity of 58% supporting the move announced by Land, Infrastrusture, Transport & Tourism Minister Maehara. Meanwhile, Hatoyama’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emmissions to 25% of 1990 levels by 2020 was supported by 79% of respondents. This was up a big 10% from a month ago, before Hatoyama made his speech to the United Nations (see Speech to the United Nations Summit on Climate Change). Opposition to the plan is down 8 points to 17%.

The Mainichi poll was taken of voters, by telephone over two days on 17th and 18th of October. 1067 people were surveyed, which was a response rate of 64% of the 1669 households that were contacted. Details on this specific Nikkei/TV Tokyo poll method are not immediately available, but typically they are conducted on a monthly basis with random telephone dialing of 1600 voter households, with a typical response from around 900 voters (see Nikkei Research Website – Japanese).