Most people in Japan expect U.S. President Donald Trump’s higher import tariffs to increase their living costs, a Kyodo News survey showed Sunday.
Asked in the nationwide survey about the potential impact of country-specific tariffs on U.S. trading partners including Japan, 84.2 percent of respondents answered that the higher taxes would undermine their livelihoods.
The survey conducted for two days through Sunday also found that 55.3 percent oppose cash handouts without any income cap, a relief measure currently considered by Japan’s ruling coalition to ease the pain of inflation and the higher U.S. tariffs.
While the vast majority at 73.9 percent found the Trump administration’s tariff policy unjustified, only 18.3 percent felt Japan should impose retaliatory tariffs.
Meanwhile, 82.7 percent felt the government’s response to soaring rice prices was insufficient despite the recent decision to release additional stockpiled rice. The rise in prices largely resulted from a poor harvest in the summer of 2023 that reduced the amount of rice available for distribution the following year.
Despite the rising prices, only 16.3 percent said their rice consumption had decreased, with 82.8 percent saying it remained unchanged and 0.5 percent saying it had increased.
The approval rating for Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s cabinet rose slightly to 32.6 percent after tanking to 27.6 percent in the previous survey, the lowest since he took office in October.
The plunge came after Ishiba admitted that his office had provided gift certificates to rookie ruling party lawmakers but claimed the practice did not pose legal problems. Ishiba was viewed as a politician clean on money matters before the scandal came to light.
Over half of respondents at 51.8 percent hoped the ruling coalition would lose its majority in the House of Councillors following the upcoming summer election, while 38.8 percent did not, survey showed.
By political party, support for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party was 25.8 percent, down from 27.7 percent, with that for the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan up at 11.9 percent from 11.1 percent and the Japan Innovation Party, which has pursued policy coordination with the ruling bloc, down at 4.9 percent from 5.4 percent.
Backing for the Democratic Party for the People, an opposition group the ruling camp is courting for its minority government, stood at 18.4 percent, growing from 12.9 percent, while respondents with no affiliation to any particular party accounted for 20.1 percent.
The nationwide survey called 477 randomly selected households with eligible voters and 3,284 mobile phone numbers. It yielded responses from 425 household members and 626 mobile phone users.
© KYODO
© Japan Today
