A year after Sanae Takaichi became Japan's first female prime minister, her cabinet's support has fallen to 45%, and the sharpest decline has come among women, whose approval now trails men's by as much as 11 points.
The Takaichi cabinet took office on October 21 last year. Support ran above 65% for three consecutive months in its early stretch, according to Mainichi Shimbun opinion polls.
By October this year it stood at 45%, a fall of 20 points over the year. Disapproval was 41%, leaving the cabinet above water.
Men and women diverge
Men and women moved in step at first. In the first three months, male support ran at 66% to 69% and female support at 64% to 67%.
In January, male support fell 9 points on the previous month to 60% and female support 10 points to 57%.
That month Takaichi decided at the start of the ordinary Diet session to dissolve the lower house. Of those polled, 35% of men approved the decision against 20% of women.
Disapproval was close: 43% of men and 40% of women. On delaying budget deliberations, 35% of men said a general election justified it, against 19% of women.
More than half of both groups — 52% of men and 55% of women — said passing the budget should have come first.
The Liberal Democratic Party's landslide in February's general election lifted support among both sexes. Male approval returned to 64% and female to 61%.
Poll respondents welcomed the result. "The policies Prime Minister Takaichi advocates can be pushed forward quickly," a man in his 60s said. A woman in her 60s said Takaichi could now carry out policy as she saw fit with the public's mandate.
The turn in March
The break came in March. Male support slipped 2 points to 62%, while female support fell 4 points to 57%.
Women's support kept falling ahead of men's after that. By June the gap had widened to 11 points, with men at 58% and women at 47%.
Both sexes were harsh on the government's response to rising prices in March. Of men, 24% approved and 42% disapproved. Among women, 15% approved and 37% disapproved.
The clearest split came over loosening the rules on defense equipment exports. The government was considering allowing exports of weapons with lethal capability, a step the cabinet approved in April.