Approval ratings for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's Cabinet continue to decline, hitting successive record lows since its inauguration in recent major media polls.

According to a poll conducted by the Yomiuri Shimbun from August 21 to 23 among 1,031 people aged 18 and older and released on August 24, the approval rating for the Takaichi Cabinet stood at 56%, down 1 percentage point from 57% in the previous month's survey.

This marks a consecutive record low following the previous month.

Respondents who do not support the Takaichi Cabinet stood at 32%, a slight decrease from 34% the previous month.

The decline in approval ratings was particularly notable among older adults in their 60s and above.

The approval rating in this age group dropped to 47% from 52% in the previous survey, while the percentage of those who do not support the Cabinet was 40%.

In a survey conducted by the Mainichi Shimbun from August 22 to 23 among 2,029 people aged 18 and older and released the same day, the Takaichi Cabinet's approval rating remained at 41%, matching the record low set last month.

The proportion of respondents who do not support the Takaichi Cabinet also remained unchanged from last month at 44%.

In a Kyodo News poll released the previous day, the Takaichi Cabinet's approval rating dropped 3.5 percentage points from the previous month to 50.2%, also marking a record low.

The Mainichi Shimbun evaluated that the Cabinet's approval rating failed to rebound even though the Takaichi government decided to temporarily lower the food consumption tax rate from 8% to 1% for two years starting in April next year.

This was analyzed to be because voters' evaluations of the food consumption tax rate cut are not as positive as expected.

In the Mainichi survey, the proportion of respondents who positively evaluated the consumption tax rate cut was 33%, lower than the 47% who viewed it negatively.

Mainichi analyzed that positive evaluations of the consumption tax cut policy are not spreading due to uncertainties over alternative financial resources and the fact that it is a two-year temporary measure.

According to the Yomiuri survey, regarding Prime Minister Takaichi's decision to withhold her visit to the Yasukuni Shrine on August 15, which marks Liberation Day and Japan's wartime defeat, 58% responded that it was "reasonable," while 29% said "it is not reasonable."

The response that withholding the visit was reasonable stood at 61% among Cabinet supporters and 58% among non-supporters. By political affiliation, it showed little difference: 61% among ruling party supporters, 69% among opposition party supporters, and 58% among unaffiliated voters.

This is interpreted as the decision to withhold the pilgrimage being positively received across a wide range of demographics.

Regarding Prime Minister Takaichi performing a distant bow known as "yohai" toward the shrine instead of visiting Yasukuni in person, the Mainichi survey showed that 33% "positively evaluated" it, while 29% "did not positively evaluate" it.

Those who answered "do not know" accounted for 36%.

(Photo: Yonhap News)