Cabinet of Japanese PM Kishida's approval rating drops to 56.9 pct: media poll

The nationwide approval rating for the Cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida dropped to 56.9 percent from a 61.5 percent high a month earlier, a local media poll showed Monday.

The disapproval rating for Kishida's Cabinet, meanwhile, rose 5.1 percentage points to 26.9 percent, according to the poll conducted by Kyodo News.

In addition, an overwhelming 64.1 percent of those surveyed considered Kishida's response to rising prices to be "inadequate".

This compares to just 28.1 percent who considered the prime minister's response to the price hikes to be "satisfactory".

As for a remark made by Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda last week in which he controversially said that Japanese consumers have become more tolerant of price hikes, 77.3 percent of those polled felt the remarks were "inappropriate".

Kyodo's poll also revealed that 58.5 percent of the population believe Kuroda is "unfit" to be the governor of Japan's central bank.

Kyodo's three-day nationwide telephone poll conducted from Saturday, also revealed that 77.3 percent said that soaring prices for food and daily necessities have affected their lives.

For 71.1 percent of those surveyed, this issue would be borne in mind when voting in next month's upper house election.