A small bump for Kishida but the political situation still looks fluid

Has political competition returned?

Prime Minister Kishida Fumio campaigns for the Shimane-1 by-election.

New polls conducted in the wake of Prime Minister Kishida Fumio’s official visit to the United States suggest that the prime minister received a modest bump in his public support following what was in many respects a successful visit to the United States. At the same time, however, the prime minister’s net approval remains deeply negative and support for his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) remains substantially below the level it held for the past decade, pointing to a greater appetite for political competition.

Polls conducted by both the Yomiuri Shimbun and the Mainichi Shimbun showed that Kishida’s net approval is largely unchanged. In Yomiuri, approval was unchanged at 25% while disapproval climbed four points to 66%, a net approval rating of -41. In Mainichi, the prime minister’s numbers improved slightly, with approval climbing five points to 22% and disapproval falling three to 74%, improving net approval to -52. The best marks Kishida received were actually in the Asahi Shimbun, where he gained nine points of net approval to -36. Approval climbed four points to 26%, while disapproval fell five points to 62%.