Report

Abe's Approval Down Another Notch, Disapproval at Record 40%

posted by Richard Katz on July 23, 2014

Found in Japan, categorized in Macro

Tags: Japan Abe Abenomics approval rating

Report Cover

Headline

The main reason is loss of faith that Abenomics will improve the daily lives of ordinary people and disapproval of Abe’s switch in priorities from economic revival to security matters

Abstract

Abe’s approval ratings fell another big notch in a late July Sankei poll

Disapproval rose to a record high of 40%

The gap between approval and disapproval shrank to a record low of 5%; it had been 60% in April 2013

Abe’s decision on collective self-defense catalyzed the new ratchet downward, but it continues—and perhaps accelerates—an ongoing erosion that began in May 2013

Every six months the gap between approval and disapproval has shrunk by about 10 points

The main reason is loss of faith that Abenomics will improve the daily lives of ordinary people and disapproval of Abe’s switch in priorities from economic revival to security matters

The more his approval ratings fall, the less clout he has to make economic reforms—even if he finally showed a sincere interest in them; at the same time, the less he moves to reform the economy, the more his approval ratings will keep falling

 

 

About Richard Katz

Richard Katz is Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics In International Affairs, the New York correspondent for Weekly Toyo Keizai, a leading Japanese business magazine, and formerly the editor of The Oriental Economist Report, a monthly newsletter on Japan.

Mr. Katz has taught about Japan’s economy as an Adjunct Associate Professor at the New York University Stern School of Business, and as a Visiting Lecturer in Economics at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook.

Mr. Katz is the author of two books on Japan's economic travails and has just finished a third book on reviving entrepreeurship in Japan.

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