More Japanese people are discontent with the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic now compared with a month ago as infections in the country increase, a poll showed.
About 60 percent of respondents said they were not happy with actions taken by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration to tackle the outbreak, according to the poll conducted on Saturday by the Mainichi Shimbun and Social Survey Research Center.
A survey last month had about half of respondents expressing dissatisfaction.
Photo: AFP
Tokyo yesterday confirmed 188 new cases, public broadcaster NHK reported, citing an unidentified official, bringing the total of infections confirmed in the capital to 9,411 people.
The approval rating for Abe’s Cabinet fell by 4 percentage points to 32 percent, while the disapproval rating rose to 60 percent, the poll showed.
About 67 percent said preventing infections should take priority over economic activities, while 15 percent said otherwise.
Of those surveyed, 64 percent said the government should declare a localized state of emergency, while 20 percent said it should be nationwide, and 12 percent were against it in any form.
The majority of respondents cautioned against a government-led campaign to help the domestic tourism industry by offering discount vouchers.
The campaign, which is scheduled to on Wednesday, came under fire on concern it could fuel the spread of infections.
The government decided last week to exclude Tokyo from the program as the number of daily virus cases increased in the capital.
Sixty-nine percent of respondents said the campaign should be suspended not just for Tokyo, but for other parts of Japan, 19 percent said the government’s decision to exclude Tokyo and kick off the campaign as scheduled was reasonable and 6 percent said the government should include Tokyo in the campaign
A separate poll conducted from Friday through yesterday by Kyodo News showed that only 23.9 percent of the public thought next summer’s Tokyo Olympics should be held as planned, while 33.7 percent thought the games should be canceled and 36.4 percent postponed.
The Cabinet approval rating stood at 38.8 percent, with about 59 percent expressing discontent with the government’s handling of the pandemic, the Kyodo poll found.
The Mainichi poll was conducted using short messaging on mobile phones and fixed phones and had 1,053 valid responses.
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