Exit polls project big win for LDP

The yen is heading down.....that is the only thing I can say with any surety. Wait! The other is a populace being brainwashed by a muzzled press over any chance to change the system.

26%? - guess everyone was out looking at illumination and shopping to give a crap about thier future.

“I think Mr. Abe is the only choice we have considering from what I heard and saw in the reports,” retiree Hiroshi Yamada said as he came out of a downtown Tokyo polling station.'

As damning an indictment of an election as you'll hear short of being shot for not voting in the right way.

I'm sure foreigner earning yen hates the Abenomics

there is no party speaking the peoples language thoughts and opinions. no wonder this is the lowest turn out. If you had a party out there that said, no sales tax rise, cut wasteful spending, keep the constitution the way it is, reduce the bureaucrats and downsize the government, I think people would be more excited to vote. People think in terms of there pocket book, not "thank you very much, I will try my best for the people, Thank you I love you, Thank you"

Just imagine what the vote would have been for the LDP if the economy wasn't a disaster, if Abenomics had worked even a little, if we hadn't gone further into debt, if we hadn't soured our relations with our neighbours.

Never have so few, with such little time left to live, voted for such a small minded man.

with abe now having majority he needs to push through right wing agenda thanks to middle class apathy, I worry japan is heading down a path to the past

Where I am this election also had a vote regarding whether or not the voter approved or disapproved of one of the judges in the district. There was NOTHING regarding this vote or referendum being reported prior to the election.

One more fishy thing about Abe and the LDP.

OMG, it's not just a landslide, it's a complete blow-out for the LDP, 221 seats for the LDP, a measly 36 seats for the nearest competitor Minshuto...

If any foreigner is still dumb enough to keep their savings in yen, and I find it hard to believe, get out of the yen tomorrow, into dollars or swiss francs. That is, if you want to keep your money. The yen is going to keep going south into the abyss.......

Although I wish Abe keeps some reserve for change, future rather looks like less democracy and more citizens into slaves in the system. Japenese will regret it hard one day. And it will be too late. My predictions are as good as the late ones I gave (all but against democracy to evoke results before vote during day of vote, unlawful in real democratic countries)

"Abenomics" soon to become "Abegeddon".

The lowest turnout in post-war history of Japan. Japanese people are really apathetic on politics. They will someday pay the price of their own apathy.

Waste of money, waste of votes. But it doesn't matter one bit anyway.

With virtually no opposition party left in Japan, Japan can now be virtually run like a dictatorship and no-one will be object or oppose. Good job, Japan.

cleo: The same programme also did a mock poll for 18-year-olds, and it was quite scary how many of them, given the chance, would vote for the xenophobic dinosaurs of the Jisedai no To (Party for Future Generations).

Mock polls don't count, just like surveys of high schoolers on geographical questions don't count, how many would respond the same just to get back at irritating unholy pollsters, same class as telemarketers.

Christopher GlenDec. 15, 2014 - 05:33PM JST I think Mr. Abe is the only choice we have considering from what I heard and saw in the reports And what reports would those be? NHK (LDP sponsored) reports?

What exactly does the Left have to offer?

I will wait with popcorn in hand for the Far Left replies........

There is also a retention referendum of Supreme Court Judges. There are ten on the list this time and you mark an X on top of the names of the Justices you want dismissed. I bet most Japanese don't even know the names of the Supreme Court Justices.

The people of Japan have spoken and want Prime Minister Abe to continue to lead them

they have no idea what the people of Japan want

I was watching the coverage of the results this evening and on one channel they did an exit-poll survey on how long people wanted the Abe administration to last. 38%, a greater percentage than any other group, wanted it to end immediately. The people discussing the poll were mouth-flapping all over the place - how could people vote for the LDP while at the same time wanting Abe out as soon as possible? It seems the political analysts (who are themselves citizens....) have no idea what the citizens of Japan want and why they vote the way they do.

The same programme also did a mock poll for 18-year-olds, and it was quite scary how many of them, given the chance, would vote for the xenophobic dinosaurs of the Jisedai no To (Party for Future Generations).

Whatsnext: If you had a party out there that said, no sales tax rise, cut wasteful spending, keep the constitution the way it is, reduce the bureaucrats and downsize the government, I think people would be more excited to vote.

The 8 Trillion government debt didn't go down a hole. It went from some people's pockets to other people's pockets. The givers' response to waste ranges from occasional annoyance to constant outrage, but that doesn't translate to serious competition for votes versus the receivers' perception of their right to receive the funds and willingness to allocate resources to protect that revenue stream. Look at how California got into its hole. There's no serious competition to public employees' influence in the state capitol.

cleo: ... it was a poll of a group of kids attending a lecture on politics given by Akira Ikegami the journalist ...

OK, so how scientific do you suppose this poll to be? With Jisedai no Tou polling at 0.2 pct, pre-election?

The survey group is self-selected, of those people willing to attend his lecture. Willingness of a particular party's youth supporters to go to Ikegami's lecture doesn't reflect momentum in future polls. Maybe he held a block from their headquarters. Maybe the LDP's youth supporters didn't bother to go, since LDP was polling at 41.7 pct, and their next-highest competitor at 9.6 pct.

http://ufo.matomeboy.blue/?p=12520

Well, don't worry too much. "Any young people" is probably going to be some fraction of 0.2 pct of the entire electorate. And Ishihara's got lots of things going for him as far as appeal to younger voters. A lot of kids will probably just go by the name, what other party name would appeal to youths more than "Party for Future Generations"? And he's the Seasons of the Sun guy. And the Japan That Can Say No guy. And the ex-mayor of Tokyo. And his brother was a famous young actor. But even with all that, his party still polling at 0.2 pct.

Also, he lost his seat in this election according to other JT article.

There's 120M people in Japan or something like that! Most anyone could get some votes if they ran.

But the vote was seen as less of a verdict on Abe’s policies than an acquiescence to the ruling party’s growing power. Despite weakening popularity ratings, a recession and messy campaign finance scandals, the Liberal Democrats were virtually certain to triumph thanks to voter apathy and a weak opposition.

Welcome to post-bubble Japan. Hope the ride down isn't too bumpy.

I doubt if the exit pollers asked one big question ... and that is: are you a member of the Soka Gakkai sect, and if so, who did you vote for? If we can find out the answer to this question, we would probably find that it was Soka Gakkai members who helped the Liberal Democrats roll to such an easy victory. And if so, they didn't vote in favor of Abenomics, they voted as instructed by Komeito, which wants to help run the government along with the LDP.

@joebigs It looks like the Communists are going to double their seats. It is still a small number but I think you need to be on your guard.....watch out for those men in Mao suits gradually increasing......

turbostat, I'm not claiming it was 'scientific' at all.

Just commenting that it's depressing that any young people would be attracted by the stated policies of that particular party. The LDP was also highly rated by the same group, which is also depressing.

It seems that most people vote for LDP because they would like to count for it better than other parties. Vote for what they want anyway.

Maybe some of the people forever posting about how much they hate Mr Abe and the LDP, and how "embarrassing it is to live in Japan" will take the opportunity of this massive landslide LDP victory to recognize that they have no idea what the people of Japan want, or what might be good for the people of Japan. Leave the politics to the citizens.

hidingout -- how exactly do you conclude that, since well less than 50% of the eligible voters even bothered to cast their ballot? All I can conclude from that this that the people of Japan simply don't care, or don't even know anymore, about what is "good" for them. Don't you think that is "embarrassing", or at least cause for concern?

how many would respond the same just to get back at irritating unholy pollsters, same class as telemarketers.

Except these weren't 'irritating unholy pollsters', it was a poll of a group of kids attending a lecture on politics given by Akira Ikegami the journalist; they were there and taking part because they wanted to be (and presumably were interested), not being stopped in the street when they were in a hurry.

“I think Mr. Abe is the only choice we have considering from what I heard and saw in the reports,”

And what reports would those be? NHK (LDP sponsored) reports?

Maybe some of the people forever posting about how much they hate Mr Abe and the LDP, and how "embarrassing it is to live in Japan" will take the opportunity of this massive landslide LDP victory to recognize that they have no idea what the people of Japan want, or what might be good for the people of Japan. Leave the politics to the citizens.

The ship of Japans recovery is about to sail in stormy weather ...congratulation Abe san.

cleoDec. 15, 2014 - 07:40AM JST Just commenting that it's depressing that any young people would be attracted by the stated policies of that particular party. The LDP was also highly rated by the same group, which is also depressing.

You see it as depressing while some of us see it as normal. The LDP has leadership and a strength that the Left does not. The Left's ranks are filled with angry young radicals who would rather throw rocks than speak. If the Left in Japan had a real plan to make Japan prosperous then they would have more support, but they don't.

JimizoDec. 15, 2014 - 12:03AM JST @joebigs It looks like the Communists are going to double their seats. It is still a small number but I think you need to be on your guard.....watch out for those men in Mao suits gradually increasing......

You are living in the past Communist today wear suits and drive around in expensive cars. But, they still have the same flawed elitist ideas.

And yeah, I'm terrified of 6.1%! 6.1% is absolutely nothing and means nothing.

The people of Japan have spoken and want Prime Minister Abe to continue to lead them. If the Left had any type of support in Japan they would have won. But, the left has very little support and few voters.

Even if the voter turnout was 10% the left would have still lost by a landslide.

By all the doom and gloom posts coming from the left here one would believe that the world just ended. But the only thing that ended was the idea that the Left stood a chance, it didn't.

In 2016 the US Left there will feel just as bad as the Left here in Japan.