Aso cabinet's approval rating recovers to 23.4%: Kyodo poll

Sunday 05th July, 04:29 PM JST

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TokyoHustla at 07:55 PM JST - 5th July

LDP full steam ahead! Another landslide victory to come!
Simon_Foston at 08:07 PM JST - 5th July

In another positive result for Aso, the LDP overtook the DPJ in terms of political party approval ratings, garnering 27.2% against the largest opposition party’s 26.5%.

Who did they poll? Mental hospital inmates or provincial hicks with senile dementia?
Shumatsu_Samurai at 04:07 AM JST - 6th July

Who did they poll? Mental hospital inmates or provincial hicks with senile dementia?

Simon, putting aside your shameful disrespect towards Japanese voters, you're failing to note that the electorate doesn't rate either party highly. The LDP may be on the wrong track on various issues, but the same is true for the DPJ. If someone is forced to choose between two things that are equally dislikeable then they may choose neither.

If the DPJ were a credible party of government they would have been elected years ago. But the fact their policies often come across as being a random collection of ideas, that they keep electing unlikeable and/or corrupt leaders, etc means they've remained in opposition. They made a step forward in forcing Ozawa out but by then replacing him with his puppet-in-chief pretty much moved them back to where they were before.

If the DPJ lose they will only have themselves to blame by not making themselves a desirable alternative to the LDP. It's in human nature to like stability, which is why incumbants can survive even in the bad times. It happens all around the world, though I know people like you believe only Japanese people will vote for a "bad" government again.
Simon_Foston at 09:06 AM JST - 6th July

I was asking who they polled,not commenting on the general views of the wider electorate. I know all about the DPJ and its flaws, including a flair for screwing up elections, but they do not yet have a track record of bad government. The LDP most assuredly does, and given that the government has become even more useless under Taro Aso it surprises me a bit that the opinion pollsters could find anyone who supports them, let alone a few more people than the last time they asked. Every other indicator I've seen suggests that this time the incumbent government may not survive, and I've stated here repeatedly that even if the LDP get a simple majority I think they'll probably lose the 2/3 majority they need to get legislation past the opposition in the upper house. So it's a bit of a sweeping assumption to suppose that I believe the Japanese people will automatically choose another bad government.
Coolasapool at 01:28 PM JST - 6th July

23.4 is a recovery? damn!!!
Simon_Foston at 01:40 PM JST - 6th July

To be honest though, it was uncalled for and unecessarily offensive of me to compare mentally ill people to LDP supporters. Sorry for the tone of the comment - I should have phrased myself more appropriately. Having said that, I do not think that this one opinion poll showing a slight rise in LDP support indicates very much. It certainly does not lead me to suppose that the LDP actually have any chance of winning the next election, especially not following the Shizuoka election. If anything, given that many criticisms of the DPJ are perfectly valid, I'm surprised that the number of people who don't like either party hasn't gone up.
stirfry at 05:22 PM JST - 6th July

kyodo poll...that really says it all...how about results from a media outlet thats not controlled by the ldp ? doubt Asol's numbers would be even half that
Shumatsu_Samurai at 05:23 AM JST - 7th July

To be honest though, it was uncalled for and unecessarily offensive of me to compare mentally ill people to LDP supporters.

That's what I was objecting to. And, yes, the trends are that the LDP will be ejected from office. The point is that the reason incumbants sometimes survive is that enough people stick with them.

A DPJ victory would be good for Japanese democracy, though if they fail to get a majority and have to form a coalition with the Socialists and/or Communists I think Japan will suffer from poor policy and leadership. In such a scenario another failed DPJ coalition and a fresh election with the LDP back in power (with a new leader, maybe Yuriko Koike) would be better than the DPJ struggling on and dragging the country down with it.

I'm hopeful that the DPJ can get a majority, though. It will be interesting to see who replaces Aso after the election. Hopefully they'll go with a new leader to shake the party up because I wouldn't trust Japan with the DPJ long-term, I think they'll need another term in Opposition to really sort themselves out.
Simon_Foston at 08:09 AM JST - 7th July

Hopefully they'll go with a new leader to shake the party up because I wouldn't trust Japan with the DPJ long-term, I think they'll need another term in Opposition to really sort themselves out.

The LDP just need a period in opposition, full stop. I'm not a conservative, but if I were I'd not be happy to support a party that's become inefficient, corrupt and devoid of ideas due to having its own way far too long. They've also rigged the electoral system very effectively to keep themselves in power and turn what's supposed to be a democratically-elected legislature into a peerage. You might not care for the opposition much, but the lingering disaprities in values between rural and urban votes and the unfair financial advantage that "hereditary" candidates have need to be dealt with so that other parties do at least have a fair chance of winning. That might also make Japan's conservative parties get their act together if they want to win elections. Right now, there's no way of really making a fair comparison between the governing and opposition parties in Japan. In the UK or USA, among other countries, critics of the Conservative or Republican parties could cite the good and bad points of their records in office. Once the DPJ get an opportunity to govern we'll have a better idea of whether they deserve another one or not.
Simon_Foston at 11:17 PM JST - 11th July

A DPJ victory would be good for Japanese democracy, though if they fail to get a majority and have to form a coalition with the Socialists and/or Communists I think Japan will suffer from poor policy and leadership. In such a scenario another failed DPJ coalition and a fresh election with the LDP back in power (with a new leader, maybe Yuriko Koike) would be better than the DPJ struggling on and dragging the country down with it.

Actually, can I say that having a new face such as Yuriko Koike as PM of a new LDP-led government will hardly make any difference if the same cabal of old men (Mori, Abe, etc) are still pulling the strings backstage. The LDP leadership needs a total generational change, not the same old bunch of geriatric non-entities trying and failing to live up to the reputations of their fathers and grandfathers. The LDP will not be credible as a party of government until someone has the guts to show those old fools the door.