The People Are Not Fools. Expanded “Support of Ozawa” Makes Prime Minister Noda Turn White ( Nikkan Gendai, a daily tabloid – June 7, 2012 – )

* Introduced by Mr.Takeshita on his blog – June 8, 2012 *


English translation of an excerpt from a Japanese article:
The People Are Not Fools.  Expanded “Support of Ozawa” Makes Prime Minister Noda Turn White ( Nikkan Gendai, a daily tabloid  – June 7, 2012 – )

Asahi Shimbun Survey Shows Surprisingly 47% of Swing Voters Support Ozawa!

Prime Minister Noda is rushing headlong towards a rise in consumption tax after delivering an ultimatum to Ichiro Ozawa, saying “We are going to carry on consultation with Liberal Democratic Party.”  The Prime Minister’s Office seems to have anticipated that a confrontation with Ozawa would boost the approval rating of the Cabinet.  Major mass media have spurred the prime minister to “cut off Ozawa and rush straight towards a rise in consumption tax.”  But the approval rating has not risen, while the public support of Ozawa has been expanding.  This has made Prime Minister DOJO (weatherfish) turn white.

72% Shows “Disapproval of Enactment of A Bill on Consumption Tax Increase in this Diet session”

Aides of the prime minister are greatly upset about the results of “opinion poll” conducted by Asahi Shimbun immediately after the Cabinet reshuffle.

Prime Minister Dojo has been all out to enact a bill on consumption tax increase, saying “I will stake my political life on enactment of the bill.”  However, only 17% say “The bill should be enacted in this Diet Session” and 72% respond “The enactment should not be clung to.”

The “pros” and “cons” on the bill itself are 32% and 56%, respectively.  The pros was the lowest in the past 6 opinion poll surveys.  The support rating and non-support rating were 27% and 51%.

What has upset Prime Minister Dojo more is unexpectedly higher approval rating of Ozawa.  As for the question of whether attitude of Ozawa is supported or not: “thorough administrative reform should be done”, there is little difference between approval rating and disapproval; 41% and 44%.  Solely concerning the swing voters, approval rating exceeds disapproval; 47% and 35%.

Advocates of consumption tax increase anticipated that if they did not describe a hike in consumption tax as a policy and repainted it as “Ozawa vs. Anti-Ozawa”, there would not be many opponents because a great majority of people dislike him.  However, the number of people who support his assertion that something should be done before a hike in consumption tax has been steadily increasing, which is contrary to their expectation.

According to informed source, the prime minister’s office had already had a sense of crisis on the fact that the Center within the party had started moving closer to “opposition to tax increase.”  The Kano group and Akira Naganuma have a strong complaint against the prime minister who tries just to promote tax increase, ignoring the problem of social security.  The fact that many of the people support Ozawa who sticks with his position “disapproval of a hike in consumption tax” not only will give an enormous momentum to the Ozawa group but make the Center oppose the plan without any hesitation.  Close aides of the prime minister are perplexed at an unexpectedly high acceptance of Ozawa.

Besides that, there is something queer with Asahi Shimbun.  The opinion poll survey it conducted shows that 72% of the public respond “enactment of the bill in this Diet session should not be clung to” but in the editorial they have spurred to advocate “10% of consumption tax.”  Do they think that public opinion does not matter?

“I wonder for what Asahi Shimbun conducts public opinion poll surveys.  Originally, journalism should take a supportive stance to the public, not to the Power.  Asahi Shimbun completely denies Ozawa’s assertion, but it is natural that the public supports him because his assertion is right.  The more often Ozawa publicly asserts his firm stance, the more the number of his advocates would be.  It is never too late.  Asahi Shimbun should apologize to the public and take the helm of anti-consumption tax increase.”
(Mr. Asao Yamaguchi, political analyst)

Asahi Shimbun should clarify their position on whether they are on the public side or not.