Advocacy Research

Research

Survey Overview

This opinion poll in Japan was conducted through a method of door to door visitation of men and women over the age of 18 (excluding high school students) from March 30th to April 15th. The total number of valid responses obtained was 1,000. The respondents' highest level of education was 45.1% high school graduate, 20.8% junior college/technical college graduate, 19.7% Bachelor's degree and 2.5% Master's degree.

The opinion poll in South Korea, on the other hand, was carried out through interviews by poll takers with men and women throughout Korea over the age of 19, conducted from March 25th to April 15th. The number of valid responses obtained was 1,004 and the respondents' highest level of education was 39.5% high school graduate, 11.6% college student/drop-out (including technical schools), 33.2% Bachelor's degree and 1.4% Master's degree.

The Genron NPO and East Asia Institute further conducted surveys separate from these opinion polls with intellectuals from both Japan and Korea between early to mid April. In Japan, questionnaires were sent to 2,000 intellectuals who had previously participated in discussions and surveys conducted by the Genron NPO, from which 575 responses were obtained.

The occupations of the intellectuals who responded included 20.7% company executives, 3.3% in media occupations, 3% national government officials, 2.1% local government officials, 0.9% politicians/party affiliates, 33.6% academics/researchers, 5.9% NPO/NGO members, 5.7% affiliates from each organization, 5.4% students, 3.1% self-employed, and 16.3% other. Intellectuals were likewise selected in South Korea, with 393 responses. Intellectuals' occupations in South Korea included 3.8% politicians, 36.1% professors, 18.3% researchers, 6.6% company executives, 11.5% public officials (including those working in public institutions), 7.6% journalists, 2.8% NGO staff, 6.9% professionals such as lawyers/accountants/doctors, and 6.4% other.

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The Genron NPO-appointed policy experts have hit out at Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s way of addressing key economic policy issues during the roughly first 100 days since the inauguration of his Cabinet on Sept. 2.

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The approval rating for Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s Cabinet fell to a low of 15.9 percent as of the 100th day of its formation, in a Genron NPO survey released on Dec. 27. This is much lower than the 33.0 percent at the corresponding period of his predecessor Yukio Hatoyama.

The poll, covering about 500 academicians, journalists, business executives, bureaucrats and others, was conducted over two weeks in early December to see how Japanese voters evaluated the job performance of the Kan Cabinet on the 100th day of its formation. Survey sheets were either mailed or e-mailed to prospective respondents who are mostly supporters and participants of The Genron NPO.

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