Takaichi Remains Popular Heading into General Election, Despite Slight Slip in January Opinion Polls
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Falling Support in the New Year?
The monthly public opinion polls carried out by eight major Japanese media organizations track the support ratings for the administration of Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae. In January 2026 these polls showed a drop in positive views of the prime minister and her government, with just one of them indicating more than 70% support (compared to three in December) and six showing support in the 60% range (up from four in the previous month).
Just one survey, that by Jiji Press, showed a rise in Takaichi’s support rating, up 1.1 points to 61.0%. The largest swing, meanwhile, came in the Mainichi Shimbun poll, where her support fell 10 points to 57%. The Yomiuri Shimbun, which saw a 4-point drop, noted that despite this decline, the prime minister still enjoyed a high level of support from the public.
That said, disapproval ratings for the Takaichi administration climbed in all eight surveys. The greatest leap in this metric came in the Yomiuri poll, where it climbed 9 points to 23%. The smallest rise was in the Jiji poll, which found 15.1% disapproval for Takaichi, up 1.5 points from December.
Following its midmonth monthly survey, NHK carried out a second poll immediately after Takaichi’s January 23 dissolution of the Diet, finding a 3.1-point drop over the space of around a week, to 58.8% approval.
Voter Eyes on Key Issues in Election
Survey participants showed less than enthusiastic takes on Takaichi’s decision to dissolve the Diet and call a snap election for the House of Representatives. Respondents stating that they “disapprove of” or “oppose” the decision constituted 41% of the Mainichi Shimbun poll total—a figure that rose to 47.3% for Kyōdō News, 50% for the Asahi Shimbun, and 52% for Yomiuri. In all, negative takes on the Takaichi election call exceeded the positive ones in seven of the eight surveys.
Voting takes place on February 8 to determine the next members of the House of Representatives. The main topics drawing voter attention as they make their decisions include economic policy aimed at combating rising prices and other factors impacting households, social welfare issues like pensions and medical care, and foreign and security policy on the international front.
(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo: Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae, left, and Fujita Fumitake, corepresentative of Nippon Ishin no Kai, take a selfie together following a January 24, 2026, debate among political party leaders held in Chūō, Tokyo. © Jiji.)
