A shoo-in a few months ago, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe¡¯s plunge in popularity imperils his re-election to a third term as LDP president in September 2018, fueling speculation about when he will go and who will replace him. That said, it¡¯s still too soon to count him out.
It¡¯s astounding that 83 percent of the public in a recent Asahi poll don¡¯t believe the prime minster¡¯s denials of cronyism regarding the special exemption granted an old friend, Kotaro Kake, to open up the nation¡¯s first veterinary school in half a century. Whether or not Abe is fibbing, few seem to believe him and his public support rate has cratered by 20 points from earlier this year.
A recent Cabinet reshuffle saw him get only a modest bounce of 4 percent in public approval in the NHK poll to 39 percent. In that poll, 78 percent didn¡¯t buy Abe¡¯s denials of cronyism, while just 3 percent fully believed his explanation and just 12 percent were partially persuaded. His credibility is shot and the public has turned against him. In the United States, a recent poll indicates that 73 percent of Americans don¡¯t trust the information coming out of the White House, so even a serial fabricator such as President Donald Trump comes out better than Abe.
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