Suga Cabinet approval rating falls to 60% after Science Council furor

The approval rate for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's Cabinet dropped 5.9 percentage points from last month to 60.5%, a Kyodo News survey showed Sunday, as controversy over issues involving the Science Council of Japan, a government advisory panel, has damaged the new leader's image.

The nationwide telephone survey, conducted over the weekend, showed that 72.7% of respondents believe Suga has failed to provide a sufficient explanation about his rejection of six scholars from joining the Science Council of Japan, a government advisory panel. Many scholars have condemned the move as an attack on academic freedom.