Japan ruling bloc alarmed by falling Takaichi cabinet approval ratings: media

TOKYO, July 23 (Xinhua) -- The continued decline in approval ratings for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's cabinet in recent media opinion polls has increasingly alarmed the ruling bloc, Jiji Press reported Thursday.

A July poll by Jiji Press, released last Thursday, put the cabinet's approval rating at 49 percent, down 5.3 percentage points from June. A Mainichi Shimbun survey conducted last weekend showed approval plunging 10 percentage points from the previous month to 41 percent, while disapproval rose to 44 percent, surpassing support for the first time.

Citing a minister in the Takaichi cabinet, Jiji Press attributed the drops in support to the controversial revision of the Imperial House Law and "heavy-handed" handling of the Diet, Japan's parliament, by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party.

The report said worries are mounting within the ruling bloc.