LDP support rate edges up ahead of upper house election: poll

People will complain all they want about Abe and his policies, but they won't take a look at their own LDP candidate and see them as being a part of the overall problem. Their candidate isnt a problem.

Multiply that by the number of seats that the LDP wins and you see the problem!

Out of 47 prefectures in Japan, off the top off my head here, there is only ONE prefecture that does not have an LDP rep is Okinawa. So it really is an "all Japan" problem.

If people want change, they have to start in their own backyards, but they wont!

Ever since i read the book "How to lie with statistics" i stopped trusting all polls, surveys and statistics. Far too many sample group are omitted, details about the methodology is not reported. When was this survey conducted for example could make a huge difference. 1200 people cannot represent 100% of the population, but either way, this means 70% do not like LDP. One of the major issues with Japan is the lack of representation. It all starts from the rigged electoral system.

YubaruToday  07:30 am JST

People will complain all they want about Abe and his policies, but they won't take a look at their own LDP candidate and see them as being a part of the overall problem. Their candidate isnt a problem.

Nope - their local LDP candidate is a good old boy who brings back a big helping from the pork barrel and keeps his backers happy. What's happening on a national scale isn't important - prime ministers usually aren't around long enough to make much of a difference to anything, and Shinzo Abe certainly hasn't done a whole lot.

IloveCoffeeToday  07:40 am JST

1200 people cannot represent 100% of the population, but either way, this means 70% do not like LDP. One of the major issues with Japan is the lack of representation. It all starts from the rigged electoral system.

The lack of a single opposition party that can field as many candidates as the LDP doesn't help either. The CDPJ have potential but in this election they're holding back in a lot of contests and letting no-hopers from other parties have a go. Maybe another big defeat will be a good thing if it convinces some of these people they're wasting their time with the smaller parties that are never, ever going to get anywhere.

50% voter turnout is dismal and shows great apathy within the society. Everybody will complain about the government, but only half of them could be bothered getting up off their sofas and voting.

To maintain its dominance the ruling caste in Japan, like those in all "democracies", depends on a rigged electoral system that can function for many decades by gerrymandering and tweaking the rigging until it no longer works, i.e., when the desired results can no longer be produced, even by blatant voter fraud and ballot stuffing, then their last resort will always be the military coup against which only a revolution from below will work. The wheels of history revolve slowly, but one day the wheels will inevitably come off the LDP's creaking machine and then...?

Actually many Japanese people consider that only LDP has a practical administrative ability within Japanese political parties.

I think most Japanese voters are apathetic, and there is also a lack of visible alternatives to the status quo. My in-laws believe everything they see on NHK and other Japanese media. Nothing will change, at least in my lifetime.

I would bet that there are more people interested in the AKB voting than national elections. That is the sad state of affairs in this country.

Perusing the (visible) record of the LDP's post WW2 corrupt monopoly of political power and their long, never-ending litany of money scandals ranging from Lockheed, Recruit to the "lost" pension records and the consequent trashing of pensions for 50 million+ workers, and chalking up the world's highest national debt per GDP, apart from their calculated, successful de-politicization of the citizenry, the "practical administrative ability" of the murky LDP is the last thing that comes to mind, innit?

Utterly sad once again.

One party-state all the way it seems. It's just like Yubaru said, if you vote on our local candidate just because he or she has some nice strategy for the local revitalization, you're simply bringing Abe more candidates to the house if they get the majority in your local constituency.

The election-system in Japan is screwed up, just as it is with the U.S. The party who get the most votes should win. Not the "winner takes it all"-method. You should get the exact number of seats as the percentage of votes you managed to gather. CDP in the 2017 general election, got 19.88% of the total votes, but only got 11.83% of the total seats. LDP got 33.28% of the total votes, but the managed to get a total of 61.08% of the total seats. (thanks local constituencies!)

Don't say to me this system is democratic! The facts are clear.

CDP and other opposition parties should make it a priority to amend the election-system to secure a balance and "pax" in Japanese politics, which at the moment is nowhere to be found!

I just see it as proof that the LDP are actually indefensible. I would actually welcome a robust defense of the Abe administration as it would be a refreshing change from totalitarian-style propaganda, but thus far I've never seen one.

Strikebreaker555Today  10:54 am JST

The election-system in Japan is screwed up, just as it is with the U.S. The party who get the most votes should win.

Except that is kind of what happens just now in the single-seat constituency "first past the post" elections - the winning candidate just needs one more vote than the next runner-up, even if he only gets 10% of the votes and the others get 10% between them. Personally I'd like to see an alternative voting system introduced, so that voters rank candidates in order of preference and if their first choice comes last their votes are transferred to their second choice, with that process being repeated until one of the candidates emerges with a clear majority.

CDP and other opposition parties should make it a priority to amend the election-system to secure a balance and "pax" in Japanese politics, which at the moment is nowhere to be found!

Very true. But I bet the LDP would stop them at every turn. The status quo suits them far too well.

Kinda meaningless in a one party state with low turnout. Don't know what I"m supposed to make of this

Lolololololololololoololololololol

And the single party regime rages on

LDP support rate edges up ahead of upper house election: poll

Of course the 'poll' shows this. Polls are very carefully managed instruments in Japan. They go up and down at times most convenient for the government. They start to edge up before election times because as a whole the people follow the norm, but being hugely uninformed about a whole host of issues - which again benefits the government - enough people will just look at headline 'polls' in the media in order to see in what way the rest of the group is thinking and vote accordingly.

yoshiToday  08:52 am JST

Actually many Japanese people consider that only LDP has a practical administrative ability within Japanese political parties.

It's not objectively true because many people consider something to be so. Many people in the Middle Ages thought the sun moved around the earth. They were no more right about that than these "many Japanese people" are about the LDP.

Marvellous news! The public know not to put their trust in tiny parties with no experience ruling. Especially in these dangerous times. Go for the the two-thirds majority, PM Abe! You can do it!

Wallace FredToday  12:55 pm JST

Lolololololololololoololololololol

And the single party regime rages on

Of course it does. The opposition aren't going to get anywhere with this joint candidate strategy they've adopted.

Ganbare Japan!Today  01:18 pm JST

Marvellous news! The public know not to put their trust in tiny parties with no experience ruling.

Actually some opposition politicians do have experience ruling thanks to the 2009 LDP meltdown that Abe's trainwreck first administration led to, but on the whole that's lucky for Abe isn't it. A talentless hack like him would stand no chance against a large opposition party with effective leadership.

I certainly do not like Mr Abe and I'd love to see him gone. But let's face it. He did not make big mistakes during his terms. Economy is not great but certainly better. Japan in the international relations during his terms has been OK.

There are times I've quite disliked things Abe has done. And I disagree on some of his policies. But overall, I don't find him to be that bad. He's been active if anything. I'd say I respect him as being good at his job, just not doing it in the direction that I'd prefer. I certainly don't share the hate for him here that so many posters do.

@Strikebreaker555

CDP and other opposition parties should make it a priority to amend the election-system to secure a balance and "pax" in Japanese politics, which at the moment is nowhere to be found!

Part 2 to Strikebreaker555's Response

The current electoral law comes from the mandate reflected in the current Japanese constitution drafted in 1946.

I remind you that no opposition party intends to amend that constitution. Not even the articles referring to the electoral system. They have nothing to do with the pacifist clause of Article 9. This is one more consequence of having a constitution that is becoming very obsolete. And instead of fixing the problem by recognizing this fact to give a definitive solution. Opposition parties continue to argue that the constitution should never be revised.

That's why the pro-revision parties are increasing the votes in all the elections. And the anti-revision parties are gradually decreasing.

Pre-election polls are predicting a good result for the Japan Innovation Party. With 4.4% they are approaching the level that Komeito has. 

We may still get a surprise on election day. And have a higher score than these polls predict. The party chaired by Ichirō Matsui are having very good acceptance on Twitter comments.

dougthehead13July 14  10:30 pm JST

Pre-election polls are predicting a good result for the Japan Innovation Party. With 4.4% they are approaching the level that Komeito has. 

We may still get a surprise on election day. And have a higher score than these polls predict. The party chaired by Ichirō Matsui are having very good acceptance on Twitter comments.

Hrm. The tone of these remarks sort of gives the impression that you work for these people in some capacity.

dougthehead13July 14  10:16 pm JST

I remind you that no opposition party intends to amend that constitution. Not even the articles referring to the electoral system.

Doesn't matter. They changed the electoral system before without touching the Constitution.

They have nothing to do with the pacifist clause of Article 9. This is one more consequence of having a constitution that is becoming very obsolete. And instead of fixing the problem by recognizing this fact to give a definitive solution. Opposition parties continue to argue that the constitution should never be revised.

Well, why bother. It has no bearing on anything that really matters to most people, i.e. things like employment, wages, healthcare, education or pensions, and there's absolutely no guarantee the public would agree to any changes in a referendum.

That's why the pro-revision parties are increasing the votes in all the elections. And the anti-revision parties are gradually decreasing.

In the 2017 election the CDPJ gained 40 seats. Kibo No To and Ishin No Kai lost 10 between them.

Japan is LDP

LDP is Japan

LDP Oyajis may rule Japan forever !

"follow majority blindly" "follow dominant atmosphere blindly"

those are historically typical nature of the Japanese unfortunately.