- Support for the Abe Cabinet
- Minister Yanagisawa’s comments on childbirth and women
- Cabinet restructuring
- Regional issues and their affect on the July House of Councillors’ election
February 23 – 25, 2007
Nationwide poll. See below for age and gender breakdown.
In January, in a speech addressing declining birthrates, Minister of Health, Labor, and Welfare, Hakuo Yanagisawa, called women birth-giving machines. This public faux pas by an Abe Cabinet member adds to a growing list of blunders committed by the current administration. Japan currently has a birthrate of 1.29 percent and a declining population. Despite this reality, many spoke out against Yanagisawa calling for his resignation. The opposition Democratic Party of Japan has used this controversy as leverage for its platform in the upcoming House of Councillors election. Although the minister has apologized publicly for his comments the negative impact that they have had may continue to adversely affect the Abe administration for months to come.
Also, on February 13, diplomats engaged in the Six-Party Talks with North Korea announced a breakthrough agreement aimed at dismantling the regime’s nuclear program. The agreement involved an initial shipment of heavy fuel oil to North Korea in exchange for the shutdown of the North’s Yongbyon nuclear facility and the admittance of International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors. Japan has refused to resume aide to the North until progress is made on the outstanding issue of the abduction of Japanese nationals by North Korean agents.
Survey
Q1: Do you support or not support the Abe Cabinet? (N=954)
| Support | 49% |
| Do not support | 41 |
| Can’t say/ don’t know | 10 |
Q1SQ1: For those who answered “support” in Q1, what is the reason for your support? Please choose as many as apply from the following seven answers. (N=468)
| Because it is an LDP cabinet | 25% |
| Good policies | 8 |
| Good sense of international affairs | 15 |
| Leadership | 5 |
| Stability | 9 |
| Can trust members’ personalities | 57 |
| Politically clean | 24 |
| Other | 5 |
| Can’t say/ don’t know | 6 |
Q1SQ2: For those who answered “don’t support” in Q1, what is the reason for your lack of support? Please choose as many as apply from the following seven answers. (N=390)
| Because it is an LDP cabinet | 17% |
| Bad policies | 34 |
| Does not have a sense of international affairs | 14 |
| Leadership | 63 |
| Stability | 36 |
| Can trust members’ personalities | 9 |
| Politically clean | 2 |
| Other | 2 |
| Can’t say/ don’t know | 3 |
Q2: What political party do you currently support? Please choose only one. (N=954)
| Liberal Democratic Party | 35% |
| Democratic Party ofJapan | 11 |
| Komeito | 3 |
| JapanCommunist Party | 2 |
| Social Democratic Party ofJapan | 1 |
| The People’s New Party | 0 |
| The New Party ofJapan | 0 |
| Other | 0 |
| Do not support any party | 46 |
| Can’t say/don’t know | 3 |
Q2SQ: For those who answered “don’t support any party” or “can’t say/don’t know” in Q2, if you had to choose one party, which party do you feel is most preferable? Please choose only one. (N=465)
| Liberal Democratic Party | 20% |
| Democratic Party ofJapan | 20 |
| Komeito | 1 |
| JapanCommunist Party | 3 |
| Social Democratic Party ofJapan | 3 |
| The People’s New Party | 0 |
| The New Party ofJapan | 0 |
| Other | 1 |
| Do not support any party | 44 |
| Can’t say/don’t know | 8 |
[Support+Preferable parties (N=954)]
| Liberal Democratic Party | 44% |
| Democratic Party ofJapan | 21 |
| Komeito | 3 |
| JapanCommunist Party | 3 |
| Social Democratic Party ofJapan | 3 |
| The People’s New Party | 0 |
| The New Party ofJapan | 0 |
| Other | 1 |
| Do not support any party | 21 |
| Can’t say/don’t know | 4 |
Q3: Do you support or not support the Abe Cabinet’s first four months of performance? (N=954)
| Support | 34% |
| Not support | 52 |
| Neither support nor not support | 6 |
| Can’t say/ don’t know | 8 |
Q3SQ1: For those who answered “support” in Q3, what is the primary reason for your answer? Please choose only one of the following. ( N=324)
| Efforts toward fiscal reconstruction | 9% |
| Efforts toward education reform | 21 |
| Restoration of party membership to opponents of postal privatization | 5 |
| Confronting problems associated with “government and money” | 7 |
| Confronting problems with cabinet members’ statements | 2 |
| Elevation of the Japan Defense Agency to the Ministry of Defense | 4 |
| Posture towardKoreaandChina | 12 |
| Response toNorth Koreaproblem | 33 |
| Other | 0 |
| Can’t say/ don’t know | 9 |
Q3SQ2: For those who answered “not support” in Q3, what is the primary reason for your answer? Please choose only one of the following. (N=494)
| Efforts toward fiscal reconstruction | 18% |
| Efforts toward educational reform | 10 |
| Restoration of party membership to opponents of postal privatization | 14 |
| Confronting problems associated with “politics and money” | 14 |
| Confronting problems with cabinet members’ statements | 25 |
| Elevation of the Japan Defense Agency to the Ministry of Defense | 3 |
| Posture towardKoreaandChina | 2 |
| Response toNorth Koreaproblem | 8 |
| Other | 2 |
| Can’t say/ don’t know | 4 |
Q4: In regards to positions on reform, how do you rate Abe’s cabinet as compared to Koizumi’s cabinet? (N=954)
| Positively | 3% |
| Negatively | 50 |
| Hasn’t changed | 37 |
| Can’t say/don’t know | 10 |
Q5: Do you think the Minister of Health, Labour, and Welfare, Yanagisawa, needs to resign because of his comments comparing women to ‘birthing machines’ (N=954)
| Needs to resign | 47% |
| Does not need to resign | 43 |
| Can’t say/ Don’t know | 10 |
Q6: At the Six-Party Talks addressing the development of North Korea’s nuclear program, it was agreed that in return for the suspension of North Korea’s nuclear facilities that the six parties would supply crude oil to North Korea. Do you support this resolution? (N=954)
| Support | 47% |
| Do not support | 43 |
| Can’t say/ don’t know | 10 |
Q7: Representative Ichiro Ozawa of the Democratic Party of Japan published the details of his office expenses. Do you think that the Cabinet and the staff of political parties should do likewise and publish their expenses? (N=954)
| Should publish them | 69% |
| Present conditions are fine | 18 |
| Can’t say/don’t know | 13 |
Q8: Within the Liberal Democratic Party there have been voices in favor of cabinet restructuring. What do you think? (N=954)
| There should be restructuring before the House ofCouncillorselection in July | 29% |
| There should be restructuring after the House ofCouncillorselection in July | 31 |
| There is no pressing need to restructure | 26 |
| Can’t say/don’t know | 15 |
Q9: To what degree do you have interest in the upcoming national local elections to be held in April? (N=954)
| Very interested | 21% |
| Interested to a degree | 50 |
| Not really interested | 16 |
| Not interested at all | 3 |
| Can’t say/don’t know | 10 |
Q10: In what regional policy issue do you have the most interest in? Please choose only one from the following nine choices. (N=954)
| Raising children/declining birthrates | 10% |
| Education problems | 12 |
| Medical care/welfare | 25 |
| Employment security | 9 |
| Rebuilding local finance | 12 |
| Reducing interregional disparities | 6 |
| Environmental mitigation measure/city planning | 3 |
| Disaster and public order counter measures | 3 |
| ‘Government and money’ issue | 9 |
| Can’t say/don’t know | 12 |
Polling Information
F1: Gender (judged by interviewers, N=954)
| Male | 48% |
| Female | 52 |
| Unknown | 0 |
F2: Age (N=954)
| 20s | 8% |
| 30s | 16 |
| 40s | 18 |
| 50s | 20 |
| 60s | 18 |
| 70s | 17 |
| Refused to answer | 2 |
F3: What is your occupation? Please choose one of the following. (N=954)
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing | 3% |
| Employed (corporate employee, bureaucrat, teacher, etc.) | 46 |
| Self-employed (business, engineer), freelance (including family business) | 10 |
| Housewife (without any outside job) | 17 |
| Student | 2 |
| Unemployed | 19 |
| Refused to answer | 2 |
