WHERE STUDENTS STAND— How Do Aoyama Students Feel About Politics?
Yves Nathan-Andre Langlois
Located less than ten minutes by foot from Shibuya Station, Aoyama Gakuin University is less than a kilometer away from one of the most diverse places in all of Japan. With people from all over the world passing by the school gates every day, the EIZY staff decided to poll the student body on their thoughts on politics.
The format of the survey was as follows: students were asked about their nationality and academic department in order to establish background information. From there, they were surveyed on whether or not they considered themselves interested in politics, whether or not they supported the current Kishida government and whether or not they voted in the most recent elections. These five questions formed the basis of our survey.
Out of a total of one hundred and twenty people surveyed, fifty-three percent of students said that they were “interested” in politics- this was the most popular answer. Forty-four percent said they were moderately interested and a further nine percent answered that they were very interested. In total, sixty-three students responded to the survey saying that they had some degree of interest in politics.
Among the students, twenty-one (approximately seventeen percent) students responded that they support the current government under Kishida Fumio. For comparison, fifty-two students (or roughly forty-three percent) said that they either slightly disliked or strongly disliked Kishida and his policies. The most frequently selected response was “moderate/unsure”, meaning that thirty-nine percent of respondents had no strong feelings towards the current government.
In terms of participation in elections, the percentages drop significantly. Of the one-hundred-twenty students surveyed, only forty-five voted in the most recent round of elections. Expressed as a percentage, this means that only thirty-seven percent of students surveyed voted recently.
Why is there such a gap between interest and participation? How do students respond to the policies being put in place by Prime Minister Kishida? Aoyama Gakuin University’s English Language Newspaper explores these questions and more in this issue.
