Popular support for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe rose after a tense couple of weeks in which two Japanese hostages were brutally murdered in the Middle East, according to The Wall Street Journal.
In a Kyodo News survey, approval for Mr. Abe’s cabinet rose to 54.2%, compared with 52.8% in the last such poll taken on Jan. 25. In a poll taken by the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, the support rate rose to 58% from the 53% in its prior poll taken Jan. 9 through 11.
Kyodo said its survey also showed 60.8% of respondents supported Abe’s handling of the hostage situation, while 55% said so in the Yomiuri poll.
The polls were the first major Japanese media surveys since the release of Islamic State videos claiming to show the beheading of journalist Kenji Goto on Feb. 1 and fellow Japanese captive Haruna Yukawa eight days earlier.