wagyl wrote:Yokohammer wrote:as I remember the voter turnout for Abe's election was pretty low.
These days , these stats are compiled by fans: Japanese general election, 2014: Turnout 52.66%
Looking back quickly through the last few elections, 2012: 59.32%
2009: 69.28%
2005: 67.51%
2003: 59.86% (Koizumi's attempt to get a popular mandate for his reform policies [sound familiar??] after gaining leadership, with a similarly low turnout possibly because of voter dissatisfaction with political games, and resulting in a reduced majority for him)
2000: 64.45%
Sacrifices made in conducting this research: I was confronted with this photo:
Sounds about right. I don't remember the hordes rushing to the polls en masse to ensure that ol' Abe got elected. He had made a bit of a tit of himself the first time around too, so probably wasn't exactly a pillar of popularity at the time.