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After seeing a little downward movement in her support earlier in December, Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae’s numbers have surged upward again at the end of the Diet session. In a wave of polling conducted 20-21 December – new polls from the Yomiuri Shimbun, Mainichi Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun, Nikkei Shimbun, Sankei Shimbun-Fuji TV, and Kyodo News were all published – her popularity with the public showed no sign of abating heading into the new year.
In my ten-day moving average, the addition of these polls brought her weighted average approval to 70% and disapproval to 19% -- 71% and 18% when adjusted for pollster biases – and her net approval climbed from +44 on 20 December to +54 on 22 December.
Her support may rest on approval of both her policy program and her leadership style. When supporters are asked why they are supporting her government, “because of her policies” is the top choice in Yomiuri and Asahi and the second choice in Mainichi (though well behind the first choice, hope in her leadership, chosen by 57% of supporters).
