Kishida Cabinet's Approval Rate Rises to 29.9 pct: Jiji Poll

Tokyo, March 16 (Jiji Press)--The approval rate for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's cabinet rose 2.1 percentage points from the previous month to 29.9 pct this month, up for the second straight month, a Jiji Press public opinion poll showed Thursday.

The disapproval rate fell 1.3 points to 40.9 pct, but still surpassed the approval rate for the seventh month in a row, according to the poll, conducted for four days through Monday.

The interview-based survey covered 2,000 people aged 18 or over across the country, with 59.9 pct of them giving valid responses.

The proportion of respondents who said they support the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic fell 1.0 point to 47.3 pct, while 25.9 pct said they do not support it, up 0.1 point.

In February, the government adopted a plan to let individuals decide whether to wear masks as a COVID-19 measure from Monday this week.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]