April Fails to Bring Spring to Ishiba’s Ratings

Scandal Continues to Impact Ishiba

With the results out for the April 2025 public opinion polls by eight leading Japanese media organizations, it is clear that Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru has little to be happy about. His administration’s highest approval rating came in the NHK poll, at just 35% (down 1 point from March); the lowest was 23.1% in the Jiji Press poll (down 4.8 points). These were the first surveys run by NHK and Jiji since the latest scandal involving Ishiba—his distribution of gift coupons worth ¥100,000 to multiple members of his Liberal Democratic Party—came to light in mid-March.

The surveys by Kyōdō News and the Mainichi Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun, and Sankei Shimbun all saw dramatic drops in approval for Ishiba in March, being carried out after the scandal broke. In April, by comparison, these polls showed a slight improvement. Even so, the support ratings remained in the 20% range in two of the surveys, and failed to head north of the 30% range in the other six.

Ishiba’s disapproval ratings remain sky high, with the Sankei figure of 61.5% (down 1.5 points from March) at the top and NHK’s 45% (unchanged) the lowest of these. NHK’s result was the only disapproval number below the 50% mark; three surveys (Mainichi, Sankei, and Nikkei) had disapproval pegged above 60%.

Plumbing New Depths in the Jiji Poll

The disapproval rating climbed 7.1% in the Jiji poll, clearing the 50% mark for the first time since Ishiba took office.

The domestic political situation in Japan remains a tricky one for Ishiba and the Liberal Democrats to navigate. The government did manage to get its proposed budget for fiscal 2025 (April 2025–March 2026) passed in the Diet at the end of March, but the LDP and its junior coalition partner, Kōmeitō, continue to rule as a minority government, requiring them to consider various demands from the opposition.

Uncertainties abound in the area of the economy as well. The threat of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Japanese exports remains, while rising consumer prices prompted a proposal to hand out cash stipends to all residents of Japan, which was later set aside. On April 22, Prime Minister Ishiba announced a spending scheme to lower the cost of gasoline by ¥10 a liter as a way to reduce the burden on consumers. Yet another plan announced around the same time will provide funds to offset the high cost of electricity and natural gas needed for air conditioning systems at the height of the summer heat, from July through September.

The main focus of the political scene this summer, though, will likely be the July election for the House of Councillors. Japan’s political parties are already jockeying for advantage in this contest and choosing the candidates they will field.

(Originally published in Japanese. Banner photo: Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru leaves his April 1, 2025, press conference at the Kantei in Tokyo with a stuffed Myaku-Myaku, the mascot of this year’s World Expo being held in Osaka. © Jiji; pool photo.)