Suga's approval rating plumbs new depths as emergency drags on

Over 60% of respondents want to delay Tokyo Olympics or call them off

A couple watches Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga speak on a big screen in Tokyo on May 28. With the coronavirus state of emergency extended yet again, Suga's response to the pandemic has come under fire. © AP

Nikkei staff writers

May 31, 2021 04:00 JST

TOKYO -- The approval rating of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's government fell 7 percentage points from April to 40% in a new Nikkei/TV Tokyo survey as public ire over the pandemic response flared anew under the extended state of emergency.

This marked the Suga government's lowest rating since he took office last September. The old bottom of 42% had been hit in that December, a month that saw rising new cases of COVID-19.