July 2013
From the 2013 Survey on Public Political Attitudes after the House of Representatives Election
Kei Kono / Toshiyuki Kobayashi
The 46th House of Representatives election, which marked a post-war record low turnout, resulted in a landslide victory of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and Japan saw another transfer of power, this time from the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) to LDP. This article analyzes voters’ political attitudes, which led to the change of government once again, based on the results of a public opinion survey held two month after the election and in comparison with findings from past surveys.
In the 2013 survey, the most-cited responses to a question on “most important aspects that influenced your voting decision” (multiple answers allowed) were “policies of candidates or parties (34%)” and “governance capability (32%).” It is noteworthy that “governance capability” was chosen by the majority of the respondents who had voted for LDP in the proportional representation election (56%).
Since LDP’s stunning victory could be attributed to the low voter turnout, those who did not go to the polls were asked the reason for that, and nearly 40% of them chose “There were no candidates or parties I wanted to vote for,” “I had no idea whom or which party to vote,” and/or “I had no interest in that election.”
Regarding “most important issues that influenced your voting decision,” (multiple answers allowed), among the overall respondents “economic and employment measures (48%)” and “social security and pension problem (44%)” were most chosen while 71% of those who voted for LDP in the proportional representation election chose “economic and employment measures.” As to diplomatic relations, 62% of the respondents supported “foreign policy centered on the Japan-U.S. relations” (increased from 52% in 2010), eclipsing those who want “a shift in foreign policy to focus on Japan-Asia relations” (34%). When asked what aspects of LDP they can give credit to, 35% of the respondents answered “ability to develop a trust relationship with other nations (increased from 17% in 2009), indicating LDP’s U.S.-centered foreign policy also affected the poll results.