Voter support for Abe rises to 72%

@MarkX take it easy, within few months the support figures will reverse to 27% and Abe will be out.

Voter support for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe rose to 72% or more in two weekend opinion polls,

Of course it is. Rather than tell the folks what they need to hear -- which is that Japan needs to bite the bullet big name and endure a painful re-structuring -- he says they can magically buy their way out by printing more money and paving more roads. Even though it has not worked for the past two decades. Kicking thce can down the road has always been popular for politicians in Japan. And sprinkle in some tough talk about China, NK, and SK, and you have a full-proof recipe for high poll numbers.

Why? As we can already see Abenomics is a failure, prices are going to rise thanks to the weak yen, interest rates are going to rise, hurting large purchases, and credit card bills, wages are not going to rise, since companies are greedy and will keep all the profits for themselves. So what has Abe done that people are so happy about?He has promised to plunge the country into a bigger hole with all his pork barrel spending. Wake up people!

I despair.

That cliff sure is going to be high.

I can tell you my own company will be paying a lot more in taxes as a result of Mr. Yen's return, and we're happy to do so.

Explain why you would be "happy" to do so? Will your company still pay wages commensurate with the cost of living as "Macs and gas get a little more expensive"?

The REASON people are cynical is because we see tax going up which is maybe not to hard a hit if all you buy is "gas and macs" but how about people looking to purchase a home, a car or any other myriad of big purchases?

People should consider themselves lucky if their salary/bonus stay the SAME. Many people are potentially heading into a world of skit here pretty soon...

In my opinion, Abenomics won't work. Real growth can't be based on debts. Also, his foreign policy is really painful.

72% of THOSE SURVEYED apparently gave their support for Abe. Mind you, we don't know the questions that were asked. The article doesn't give them.

Later in the article, it states that the figure comes from two surveys conducted by Nikkei business daily.

In other words 72% of those NIKKEI READERS who ANSWERED THE SURVEY support Abe.

This doesn't tell us:

How many Nikkei readers didn't bother to answer the survey, or exactly HOW MANY people it was.

It might have been 36 people saying they support Abe and 14 people saying they don't.

Hardly indicative of the population as a whole.

Yet, the headline begins with the totally misleading statement, "Voter support for Abe rises to 72%."

You could read this and imagine that 72% of the Japanese voting public supports Abe, which I am sure is not the case.

If we're going to publish propaganda like this, we may as well go back to the Pravda days of the old USSR.

Japan's famous business must not be allowed to never make a profit again because of the yen. So gas and Macs get a little more expensive, if unemployment falls and optimism returns, I will be happy.

Peter -- if only it were that simple. Japan's weakness over the past two decades, has not been due to a too strong yen. That is something that has been a factor only the last eighteen months or so. And the reason it has caused the problems it has, is because Japan Inc. let itself get fat and happy, because they knew that the LDP-led government would always be there with pump-priming measures to artificially stimulate domestic demand when they needed it. But now that the economy is stagnant due to the shrinking/aging population, the companies are uncompetitive on a global basis -- think Sony, Sharp, etc. -- because they became to inward focused and no one overseas wants their over-priced stuff. So, dropping the value of the yen, and spending a bunch of money they don't have, will, no doubt, give a temporary bump to the economy. But the underlying problems will still be there and Abenomics does nothing to solve them. Enjoy the happiness while it lasts. It will be short lived, and followed by a much worse hang over.

MarkX. Exactly!!

These types of surveys bug the heck out of me because too many people put their faith in them and suck in the bait, hook, line, sinker, and sinking boat too! There is no data on how many people were interviewed, their demographics, economic standing, nothing!

There are a lot of pissed off at Abe folks down here in Okinawa right now, so I would be willing to bet the survey takers made sure to avoid talking with anyone here to skew their expected (desired) results.

And 100% of the supporters are over 65...

It would be a huge mistake to think this way, considering that many of the farmers that typically support the LDP because of the subsidies they receive from the government are elderly they are against ABE now because of his push to join the TPP.

Bertie needs to read the article more carefully, me thinks.

Tough to do worse than the last few governments. i think a lot of his support comes from his tough foreign policy stance. Economic stuff doesn't affect most people (although quite a few of my friends who have their own businesses have commented on the value of a weaker yen). Let's eee how this affects people's salaries first.

I think it would be prudent to wait awhile before throwing him under the bus. There seems to be a plethora of posters here that express opinions based on their own political biases rather that any performance statistics.

but its not what you say or really do its how you get the message across and compred to the bumbling idiots of the DJP he is a master.Thats why the japanese are up for him.He is acting the man with China etc and looks like he knows what he is on about.Whether he and his cohorts can actually do anything about all the structural problems is a completely different matter.Pensions ,population imbalance the will all come home to roost later but he got his fancy catch phrase in the media "ABENOMICS".He is the flavor of the hour.he is just playing the game well.In the end thet all just care about getting and keeping power.I would just feel sorry for the youth of japan as there future is just so grim....but I somehow doubt the youth of japan want to or actually give a damn.keep the head in the sand, listen to NHKs subtle propaganda about what a great little country it is...but sure half the worlds govts do the same...so inspiring..

Old Japanese and housewives who stay at home and don't pay tax, i hate them all,why do they support Abe? So, so selfish, and i'm a taxpayer who cannot vote, so angry!!

CH3CHOFeb. 27, 2013 - 12:30AM JST

tmarie, No matter who the Japanese Prime Minister is, China, S Korea and N Korea will be against Japan. They were against DPJ administration. They are against LDP administration now. They will be against Ishin Party, Your Party, or even Japan Communist Party.

There are no peace, hope, and future for China, S. Korea and N. Korea. There is a wisdom for all of us that we cannot force a horse to drink water. The horse can continue roaming on field of "hate". It is too shame.

The rest of the world and Japan will be moving forward without them.

The populace , "Ooh he's a tough talker", "He's going to protect us from NK and China", "Doesn't he look heroic in the picture with Obama, Yes we can ! " , Abenomics, Abenomics, Abenomics blah blah blah baaaa -baaaa !"

And The United States will take the rest of that 28% and we'll call it 100% Support for THE MAN - Shinzo Abe.

I hope Abe-san can do what he promised during the campaign. Mainly escaping the post-war regime a legacy of the US.

Nobody who's interested in Japan's real problems cares about any of that "let's go back to 1933" garbage. They only come out with that kind of stuff to dupe deluded Japanese neo-nazis into voting for them.

The smear campaign is working. Give it another year when all this Baka-Monica starts to really hit home and I'm sure the results will be different.

70% support Abe and one of Abe's policies is to bring back inflation. Recently the fuel price has been rising (inflation), yet a recent NHK item only showed people complaining about the price increases. There are two ways to look at this:

1) NHK is biased and doesn't show a representative sample of people in their interviews.

or

2) People who claim to support Abe don't actually support his policies.

I even read somewhere that the government is thinking about ways to help companies cope with higher energy prices, i.e. they think inflation is bad and are trying to mitigate its effect. Either they want inflation or they don't, which is it? It's all very confusing.

It hardly matters, since the shelf life of a Japanese prime minister is 12 months, maximum.

The blind blindly leading the blind.

prices are not supposed to stagnate over 20 year periods

Peter, that is in fact exactly what prices are supposed to do. "Stagnate" is not the word; it should be "remain constant" or "be stable".

In an era where money is no longer backed by something tangible such as gold, silver, land, rice, etc., the irresistible urge on the part of governments to print money and devalue their debt (and, in the process, the savings of their constituents) occurs almost without exception. In the US, for example, post-1973 inflation has eaten up almost all the gains in productivity, and the average wage hasn't kept up with the rising price level. Japan deserves credit for -- despite various failures -- keeping consumer prices nearly constant for almost two decades now. Money saved a decade ago will buy as much or more as it did then.

If there's one thing to be happy about regarding Japan's economy, it's this. In a rising-CPI economy, the government and well-connected corporations reap the profits while regular working folks struggle with rising prices and devalued savings. Stable consumer prices are something every working householder can and should be happy about. When Abe's policies start destroying this, as they probably will in few months as the effects weaker yen seep into the economy, watch his support level drop.

Right wing ideology always the best medicine for desperate nations...

Abe is Japan’s seventh premier since popular Junichiro Koizumi ended a rare five-year term in 2006.

Japanese voters have lost a critical thinking skill that has successfully lifted Japan from the ashes after the WWII.

Proof

Koizumi was the worst PM of Japanese political history who destroyed Japanese social infrastructures and economic stability, and yet he is still very popular among Japanese voters. AKB group with no talents is still very popular and still sells. That's exactly what's happening in Japan today. I am sure Mr. Shizuka Kamei agrees with me.

Yeah, this 'support' is just more flavour of the month celebrity worship from the Japanese. It seems at the moment, it is fashionable to like the leader. They are just taking cultural and fashion leads from the Americans again.

And as a few people have said, give it a few months and things will be back to normal again.

I can already see the Yen returning back to it's previous value against the GBP today...

And 100% of the supporters are over 65...

Wow, always said rational thought, common sense weerent so common here, this is proof of that, yeow!!

Head in the sand, indeed. Follow a strong leader, Support the industrialists and starve the workers. Sounds a bit familiar, no? I'm afraid that all the indicators point to increasing militarism - there's nothing a nice little war won't fix.

Voter support for Abe rises to 72%

They have not done anything yet. Sounds like AKB voting.

tmarie, No matter who the Japanese Prime Minister is, China, S Korea and N Korea will be against Japan. They were against DPJ administration. They are against LDP administration now. They will be against Ishin Party, Your Party, or even Japan Communist Party.

Abe is a great man! He will have the nuclear power plants checked for safety and will have them powered on while simultaneously develop an alternative energy program to eventually replace them.

Many of the complaints against Abe is from Chinese nationals who do not wish Japan to succeed. They are using all sorts of scare tactics like debt and

There you go, I told you. Yen in now under 140 on the gbp.

This will continue until it is back to what it was before this short sugar rush by idiots

S0 72% of folks don't get how the economy works? 72% are more than happy to be arguing with China, Korea, North Korea and Russia? 72% don't get that Abe is just going to make is worse.

Thank goodness those 72% probably only have another 10 years left in them. It amazes me how greedy the old folks here are. The youngest are going to pay time for these gits mistakes and selfishness.

Go Abe!

The road to facism and WWIII.

I hope Abe-san can do what he promised during the campaign. Mainly escaping the post-war regime a legacy of the US. Gambare Abe-San!

Wow, can the cynicism guys, if you can. Something has to be done, prices are not supposed to stagnate over 20 year periods, Japan's famous business must not be allowed to never make a profit again because of the yen. So gas and Macs get a little more expensive, if unemployment falls and optimism returns, I will be happy.

I can tell you my own company will be paying a lot more in taxes as a result of Mr. Yen's return, and we're happy to do so.