TOKYO - Around 71 percent of respondents were worried about Japan's fiscal health following Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's decision to temporarily reduce the country's consumption tax on food items as an inflation relief measure, a Kyodo News poll showed Sunday.
The weekend poll also found that the approval rate for Takaichi's Cabinet fell 3.5 percentage points from the previous survey in July to 50.2 percent, its lowest level since she took office last year. The disapproval rate rose 0.2 point to 33.9 percent.
The latest telephone survey conducted on Saturday and Sunday provided fresh evidence that public support for her Cabinet is trending downward, although it remains relatively high.
She has forged ahead with key policies, such as reducing the consumption tax rate on food and beverages to 1 percent from 8 percent to help households hit by rising prices for everyday goods, exacerbated by a weak yen and tensions in the Middle East.
But a combined 71.7 percent said they were worried or had "some worries" about the country's worsening fiscal health if the government implements the temporary tax reduction as planned.
Takaichi's push for aggressive fiscal spending to support key strategic sectors and rev up the economy has pushed up Japanese government bond yields and weakened the yen. Japan's fiscal health is the worst among advanced economies.
With Takaichi believed to be considering reshuffling the Cabinet and the ruling party's leadership, 73.8 percent opposed appointing lawmakers implicated in a slush fund scandal to key posts.
Asked how they viewed Takaichi's omission of the word "remorse" in her address at a ceremony to mark Japan's defeat in World War II on Aug. 15, 47.8 percent supported it while 42.6 percent were opposed.
Takaichi, a conservative known for her hawkish views on defense and security, broke with her predecessor Shigeru Ishiba, who became the first Japanese leader in 13 years to use the word "remorse" over the war in his Aug. 15 address last year.
She stayed away from the controversial Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo on the anniversary. China and South Korea, which suffered under Japan's wartime aggression, view the site as a symbol of that past. The Shinto shrine honors convicted war criminals along with the war dead.
Still, she bowed twice, clapped twice and then bowed once in the direction of Yasukuni from outside the nearby venue for the memorial ceremony, an apparent act of Shinto worship.
The largest portion, 44.0 percent, supported her gesture while 26.7 percent said she should have visited the shrine in person. Some 22.1 percent said she should not have worshiped, even from a distance.
Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party has enjoyed solid support, as evidenced by its overwhelming victory in the House of Representatives election in February.
But the handling of Diet affairs by the LDP and its coalition partner the Japan Innovation Party has drawn criticism from opposition parties, even though their presence in parliament was significantly reduced following the election.
The LDP garnered the most support at 34.9 percent, down from 35.9 percent in July, while the JIP's support edged up to 5.9 percent from 5.8 percent.
In the Kyodo survey, 51 percent of respondents viewed a proposed merger of the Centrist Reform Alliance, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Komeito negatively, with the respondents saying the plan should be "scrapped altogether."
The CRA was created just before the February election by lower house members of the CDPJ and Komeito. Tripartite talks are still underway to discuss the future shape of the parties.
The support rate for the CRA fell to 2.8 percent from 4.6 percent last month. The CDPJ got 4.8 percent, up from 3.8 percent, and Komeito had 2.5 percent, up from 1.7 percent.
