Nearly 70% against 2018 constitution revision proposal: Jiji poll

December 16, 2017

Tokyo- Nearly 70 percent of respondents were opposed to parliament adopting a proposal for constitutional revisions next year, a Jiji Press opinion poll showed Friday.

The poll also showed that the approval rating for the cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in December slid 2.8 percentage points from the previous month to 42.6 percent, while its disapproval rating declined 1.0 point to 36.1 percent.

On issues concerning the Constitution, 68.4 percent of respondents voiced their opposition to the Diet making any amendment proposal during its 2018 ordinary session starting in January.

Of them, 51.3 percent said they were opposed to amending the supreme law in haste, while 17.1 percent said they were against revisions in the first place. Even among supporters of Abe's Liberal Democratic Party, the 2018 revision proposal was rejected by 50.6 percent.

Meanwhile, such a proposal was welcomed by 20.9 percent of the total respondents and 42.9 percent of LDP backers.

Asked what should be given priority in amendments if they are to be made, with multiple answers allowed, 36 percent of respondents suggested an expanded public right to know. Free education followed with 35.9 percent and the creation of a state of emergency clause with 28.3 percent.

Revisions to the top law's war-renouncing Article 9, an ambition of Abe, were cited by 20.8 percent. Restricting the cabinet's right to dissolve the House of Representatives, the all-important lower chamber of the Diet, drew support from 13.8 percent.

The interview-based survey was conducted on 2,000 people aged 18 or older nationwide for four days through Monday. Valid responses came from 62.9 percent.

The approval rating for the Abe cabinet declined after rising more than 8 points in November in the wake of the LDP's victory in the Oct. 22 Lower House election.

The December setback is believed to reflect the grilling faced by Abe and some other government officials at a recent special parliamentary session over favoritism scandals involving two school-operating entities, one of which had a link with Abe's wife, Akie, and another is run by a close friend of the prime minister.

Of the respondents who backed the Abe cabinet, 18.8 percent said there are no other suitable person for prime minister, 12.6 percent rated Abe's strong leadership and 10.5 percent found Abe reliable.

Among reasons for not supporting the cabinet, untrustworthiness of Abe was cited by 21 percent, the lack of expectations by 16.5 percent and faulty policies by 12.6 percent.

The survey also showed that the support rate for the LDP was at 24.8 percent, down 3.1 points, and that for the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan at 5 percent, down 0.4 point.

Komeito, the LDP's coalition partner, was backed by 4.1 percent, the Democratic Party by 1.8 percent, the Japanese Communist Party by 1.7 percent and Nippon Ishin no Kai by 1 percent.

The Party of Hope's support rate dropped to 0.9 percent, the lowest since its creation in September.

Respondents not expressing support for any particular party accounted for 58.7 percent. Jiji Press