Nearly 78% of respondents called for a general election if the government had to raise taxes to cover a substantial increase in Japan’s defense spending, a Kyodo News poll showed on Sunday.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has come under pressure, with 77.9% urging him to seek voter approval on the issue, as Tokyo aims to press ahead with its biggest defense boost program since the World War II amid rising China and North Korean threats. Meanwhile, 19.3% said they saw no such need.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a plenary session of the House of Councilors in Tokyo on January 27, 2023. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
In the phone poll held on Saturday and Sunday, support for Kishida’s cabinet came in at 33.4%, down from 33.1% in December, the lowest since its launch in 2021. 49.9%, down 1.6 points.
The survey also found that 62.0% support the government’s recent decision to downgrade the legal status of the new coronavirus in May to the same category as seasonal flu and other common infectious diseases, a major change that will help normalize social and economic activities.
But 34.0% opposed the decision which will likely result in a relaxation of existing intensive COVID-19 measures such as limiting the movements of infected people and their close contacts and also allowing non-residents to enter the Japan without PCR test or quarantine.
With the government now leaving it up to individuals to wear face masks, indoors or outdoors, to prevent infection, 64.8% said they were worried about it, while 35.2% did not not.
While Kishida said he would step up government measures to deal with the country’s falling birth rate, 62.9% saw the stance as appropriate. But 63.6% disapproved of any increase in the funding burden of his policies, including a possible consumption tax hike, with 32.6% accepting it.
Kishida called on companies to raise wages at a pace that matches the recent high inflation that has hit households. Only 16.5% think such an increase will happen, which is significantly lower than 80.7% who think it is unachievable.
The survey called 516 randomly selected households with eligible voters on landlines and 1,899 mobile phone numbers. It gave responses from 423 households and 621 cellphone users.
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