Japan’s Abe Sees Support Rate Slip While Virus Cases Rise

(Bloomberg) -- More Japanese voters disapprove than approve of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration for the first time in nearly two years, a survey showed, as criticism mounts over his handling of the virus outbreak.

A poll released Tuesday in the Yomiuri newspaper, a right-leaning major daily that typically backs Abe’s policies, showed his government’s disapproval rating at 47%. The number topped his approval rating at 42% for the first time in the poll since May 2018, when his government was mired in a scandal related to a real estate deal.

Polls released Monday by Kyodo News and another by the conservative Sankei newspaper also showed that his support rate was under water. The latter showed 64% of the respondents did not approve of Abe’s handling of the virus, up 25 percentage points from the previous survey in March.

While the polls are a blow for Abe, he is unlikely to face any immediate threat as opposition parties have also failed to attract voters. Abe, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, must hold elections for the powerful lower house of parliament by the autumn of 2021. Support for the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan was steady at 5% in the Yomiuri poll while Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party was relatively steady at 34%.

Respondents in polls have faulted his government for being too slow to declare an emergency over the virus and for not providing enough support for residents and businesses struggling to make their way through the crisis.

Compounding the problem have been gaffes where Abe has seen to be out of touch with the problems faced by citizens making their way through the crisis -- the most recent of which was a social media post over the weekend to show support for those staying at home that was lampooned for being tone deaf.

Abe’s government has announced a 108 trillion yen ($989 billion) stimulus package, Japan’s largest ever, to rescue the coronavirus-hit economy. The package, equivalent to about 20% of the nation’s economic output, will include cash handouts worth 6 trillion yen for households and small businesses hit by the virus.

He faces another public test with a special election to the lower house in Shizuoka prefecture April 26, which will be the first to be held under pandemic conditions.

Japan has had the fewest confirmed coronavirus infections among Group of Seven leading democracies but cases have more than tripled in Tokyo in April to hit 2,158 as of Monday, raising worries it could be the next global city to be overwhelmed by an explosive surge.

In neighboring South Korea, President Moon Jae-in has seen his support surge by 14 percentage points in a little over month to hit 56% in early April as confirmed infections have dropped after an aggressive testing and containment campaign that has won international praise. This has given Moon’s beleaguered progressive party a boost as the country holds parliamentary elections on Wednesday.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.