On the lower end, the daily Asahi put Kishida’s approval rating at 45 percent while Mainichi put it at 49 percent. “I’m aware of the polling results, but also believe that there is quite a gap depending on the company that conducted the survey,” said Kishida to reporters on Wednesday morning. Oohamazaki said that with Kishida’s cabinet likely to be exposed to criticism from the opposition during parliamentary questioning starting Monday, approval ratings may continue to drop ahead of the elections. “I don’t think that drop will impact the election results too much, but we may be looking at the ruling coalition losing about 25 to 30 seats,” he said. The Yomiuri put support for Kishida’s LDP at 43 percent, up 7 percentage points from the previous poll.
