The Tokyo 2020 logo is seen posted on the wall of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly hall in the capital's Shinjuku Ward. (Mainichi/Hiroshi Maruyama)

       TOKYO -- Fifty-eight percent of voters surveyed in Tokyo are against holding the Olympic and Paralympic Games under the current plans, according to a June 26 online poll conducted by the Mainichi Shimbun and other organizations ahead of the July 4 Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election.

       Just 30% of respondents were in favor of staying the course. The survey suggests that residents remain worried that the games will lead to a further spread of coronavirus infections, despite central and Tokyo government plans to impose a spectator cap.

       Opinions split depending on which political party the respondent supported. Fifty-six percent of people who support the central government's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) backed holding the games under current plans, as did 45% of supporters of the LDP's junior coalition partner Komeito.

       In contrast, 85% of people who favor the Japanese Communist Party, which is demanding the Olympics' cancellation, and 81% of Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan backers opposed the games. Among people who support the metropolitan assembly's ruling party Tomin First no Kai, or the Tokyoites First party, which is pushing to hold the Olympics without spectators, 51% opposed the games under the current plan.

       On Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike's administrative management, 47% of respondents approved of her performance, while 33% disapproved, suggesting she had achieved a certain level of recognition for her handing of the coronavirus pandemic and other issues. However, among those backing Koike, only 12% supported her Tokyoites First party, while 21% supported the LDP. Even among those who support Koike, 51% opposed holding the Olympics, exceeding 40% who supported them.

       Twenty-five percent of respondents supported Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's Cabinet, while 59% opposed it. Among those who supported Suga's Cabinet, 66% favored holding the Olympics, and 26% were opposed.

       The poll was jointly conducted by the Mainichi Shimbun, Tokyo Broadcasting System Television Inc. and the Social Survey Research Center on the afternoon of June 26 by sending emails to randomly picked residents in Tokyo who are members of the "premiere panel" service, consisting mostly of NTT Docomo cellphone users. The organizations received valid responses from a total of 21,000 voters in 41 electoral districts being contested in the July 4 Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election. The Tokyo city of Kodaira will not go to the polls, as the candidates there have won seats without a contest.

       (Japanese original by Toshiki Koseki, Tokyo City News Department)

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