TOKYO – Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party is the most favored option for voters heading into the Feb. 8 general election, taking a lead over a newly created major opposition party that aims to counter conservatives, a Kyodo News poll showed Sunday.
Asked which party they would vote for in the proportional representation part of the election, 29.2 percent chose the LDP, led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. The new Centrist Reform Alliance came second at 11.9 percent.
In the nationwide telephone survey conducted Saturday and Sunday, the approval rate for Takaichi, who dissolved the powerful House of Representatives on Friday, fell to 63.1 percent from 67.5 percent in December. The disapproval rate rose to 25.0 percent from 20.4 percent.
Voters will cast two votes in the forthcoming election, the first under Takaichi, whose LDP formed a coalition with the Japan Innovation Party. One ballot is to choose a candidate in their constituency and the other is to pick a political party.
The Democratic Party for the People ranked third with 8.4 percent, followed by 5.5 percent for the JIP. The populist Sanseito party, which surged in popularity in the election for the House of Councillors, or the upper house, last year came fifth with 4.3 percent.
Some 27.8 percent said they were undecided on which party to vote for.
In the Kyodo poll, 40.0 percent said they would vote for ruling coalition candidates in their single-seat constituency, while 22.8 percent preferred those in the opposition camp. A total of 34.9 percent said they were undecided.
The election will be the first test for the new opposition party formed through a merger of the largest opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Komeito party, which last October severed its longstanding alliance with the LDP — a decision that reshaped the political landscape.
Still, 67.0 percent of respondents are not pinning hopes on the new opposition party, sharply higher than the 28.2 percent who are hopeful, according to the survey.
For her part, Takaichi wants to have more ruling coalition members elected to the lower house, where it held a slim majority before the dissolution.
She has justified her decision to call a snap election by citing the need to secure a public mandate to implement her policies, including more strategic investment in crisis management and bolstering the country’s defenses.
Some 47.3 percent of respondents opposed Takaichi’s decision, while 44.0 percent expressed their support for the dissolution.
With official campaigning set to begin on Tuesday, both ruling and opposition parties are seeking to garner voter support by proposing suspension or abolition of the consumption tax on food as a way to ease the financial burden on households amid rising living costs.
The weekend poll showed the public almost evenly split over whether the envisaged tax reduction targeting food items should be temporary or permanent, with 24.8 percent and 24.0 percent, respectively.
The largest portion, or 59.3 percent, of respondents said inflation relief measures are their top priority in the election, ahead of 26.8 percent for social security, 19.3 percent for economic and employment conditions, and 18.7 percent for diplomacy and security policy, with multiple answers allowed.