Abe Government's Approval Rating At 2-Year Low Over COVID-19 Handling - Poll

TOKYO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 31st May, 2020) The approval rating for the government of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has dropped below 40 percent reaching its lowest level in two years over its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a poll showed on Sunday.

According to the poll conducted by the Kyodo news agency, 39.4 percent of respondents expressed support for the prime minister, which is a 2.3 percent decline compared to a similar poll conducted in early May. As many as 45.5 percent of respondents expressed disapproval of the government's response to the pandemic.

In addition, over 81 percent of those polled believe that economic support measures for the population in the light of the pandemic have been too slow.

The recent scandal involving the former chief of the Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office, Hiromu Kurokawa, has become another reason for the drop of the government's approval rating.

Kurokawa resigned in May after reports emerged that he had violated the coronavirus self-isolation regime by playing mahjong for money with other people, which is a punishable offense in Japan. The situation was complicated by the fact that the Japanese government had recently allowed Kurokawa to stay in his post beyond retirement age of 63. Many suspect it had been done to appoint him, a person close to the prime minister, as the next prosecutor-general.

The poll was conducted from May 29 to 31 and the number of respondents is still unavailable. Last time, the Japanese prime minister's rating fell below 40 percent in May 2018, according to Kyodo's polls.