Approval rating for Abe cabinet plunges to 35.8%

The approval rating for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet plunged to 35.8%, down 11.8 percentage points from mid-May, marking a record low since he took office last September, a Kyodo News poll showed Saturday.

The fall was apparently caused by the recent suicide of former Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka, who had been implicated in financial scandals, and the ruling coalition's forcible passage of bills to revise the Social Insurance Agency. The poll also showed 28.8% said they would vote for the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan if the House of Councillors election is held now, exceeding 26.5% who would vote for Abe's Liberal Democratic Party.