Ishiba bounces back in polls

FE Team | Published: August 26, 2025 00:34:30

TOKYO, Aug 25 (AFP): Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's poll ratings have rebounded a month after disastrous election results left his premiership hanging by a thread, a clutch of surveys suggested Monday.
Ishiba took the helm of the long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) last year and has since lost his majority in both houses of parliament, most recently in upper chamber elections in July.
But the self-confessed defence policy "geek" and maker of model ships has defied calls to resign from within the party, which has governed Japan almost non-stop since the 1950s.
According to one poll by the Yomiuri Shimbun daily published Monday, the approval rating for Ishiba's cabinet was 39 percent, a remarkable 17 points higher than after the July 20 vote.
It was the biggest jump for a government since the telephone survey began in 2008, except for after prime minister changes, the Yomiuri said.