Asahi Poll: 77% of Voters Say Cabinet Should Review Manifesto Promises; Cabinet Begins to Review Manifesto Promises…

Written By: guyjin on November 17, 2009 No Comment

An Asahi Shimbun poll released today showed that government support remains steady at around 62%, with voters generally happy with the efforts of the new government so far. Perhaps the most startling result of the November 14 and 15 poll was that only 16% of respondents said that the Cabinet should do everything possible to realize the promises made at the recent election. I can’t recall ever seeing so few people wanting their government to keep their promises…. But then, there probably haven’t been many opposition parties so desperate to win votes that they would promise just about anything…..

A full 77% of respondents said that the Cabinet should be flexible in reviewing their promises, although this doesn’t seem to apply to the doing away with ‘amakudari’ (59% were against the appointment of a bureaucrat to head Japan Post), nor does it apply to the Hatoyama administration’s aim to reduce the power of bureaucrats in general (69% still agree with this policy). Not much love for the bureaucrats it would seem….

Hot on the heels of this poll, to my surprise, I noticed an interesting article from Yomiuri today: Govt. ‘to cut funding for key policies’… It was almost as if the government had been doing some polling of their own, and had discovered that people wouldn’t mind too much if they cut a little off the top of some of their big election promises. According to Yomiuri ‘sources’, cuts to key policies are on the table, as the government aims to keep hold of a 95 trillion yen budget which is already over-bloated. It seems that the panel tasked with discussing the policies will lead to the setting up of a working group, while a panel on basic policy also debates the issues…. And all this from a party that promised to simplify government…