Survey Japan-U.S.

The Yomiuri ShimbunEvaluations of the Japan-U.S. relationship have drastically deteriorated among pollees on the Japanese side, according to a recent survey jointly conducted by The Yomiuri Shimbun and the U.S. survey firm Gallup.

The views of Japanese respondents are notable for a sense of distrust against U.S. President Donald Trump, who proclaims his “America First” policy, such as by demanding that Japan reduce its trade surplus with the United States.

Meanwhile, expectations remain strong for the United States to play a leading role in international society. With many people seeing China and North Korea as military threats, more than 60 percent on the Japanese side supported the role of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, just as in the results of last year’s survey, and their perception of the importance of the alliance seems to have remained unchanged.

Thirty-nine percent of pollees in Japan said the current bilateral relationship is “good” or “very good,” a 17-point decline from the 56 percent who said so in the previous survey in 2017. In the past three surveys from 2015 to 2017, from 56 percent to 58 percent had said it was “good” or “very good,” the highest levels since 2000, when the survey began to be conducted by phone. The result this time shows a drastic change.

By political party, 56 percent of Liberal Democratic Party supporters said the relationship was “good” or “very good.” However, only 30 percent of respondents with no party affiliation and 26 percent of opposition party supporters said the relationship was “good” or “very good.”

In the 2016 survey conducted right after Trump won the U.S. presidential election, about 40 percent of pollees on both the Japanese and U.S. sides showed a pessimistic view that the bilateral relationship will get worse in the future. This anxiety has apparently cast a shadow on the results of the current poll.

Thirty percent of the pollees in Japan said they trust the United States “some” or “very much,” down from 39 percent in the previous survey. Looking at the Japan-U.S. relationship in the future, 71 percent — down from 77 percent — of respondents in Japan said it would “stay the same,” while 12 percent — up from 6 percent — said it would “get much worse” or “get somewhat worse.”

Trump’s words and actions apparently are largely responsible for the deterioration of Japan’s sentiment against the United States. Trump has insisted that the United States’ huge trade deficit with Japan represents “unfair trade practices” and has repeatedly demanded that Japan fix it. Seventy-five percent of the respondents on the Japanese side disapproved of his remarks, while 10 percent approved. In the United States, 50 percent approved while 39 percent disapproved.

On the Japanese side, the percentage who disapproved of Trump’s remarks was high even among those who rated the current bilateral relationship positively or said they trust the United States, at 69 percent and 65 percent, respectively. The results show that many Japanese respondents are unsatisfied with Trump’s demands regardless of how they evaluate bilateral relations.

Asked how trade should be, 47 percent of respondents on the Japanese side and 49 percent of those on the U.S. side supported protectionism, while 33 percent in Japan and 43 percent in the United States supported free trade, indicating pollees in both countries somewhat favored protectionism.