Kirk with some news about the state funeral of Abe Shinzo, the former prime minister who was murdered this year. The image you see reports the results of an online survey conducted by the Kumanichi, Kumamoto’s local newspaper. It compares results from July and September.
Red is “opposed” and pink is “leaning toward opposition.” So, if red and pink are combined, the overall figure for September is 73.4% opposed. Conversely, blue is “in favor” and light blue is “leaning toward being in favor.”
In July, opinion was split more-or-less evenly between pro and con. More recently, however, many have soured on the idea. I suspect this is largely due to what has come to light about Mr. Abe’s cozy connections with the Unification Church.
I think it’s also interesting to note that the greatest support for the state funeral can be found among young people – in their 20s and younger. This generational difference is greater than the gender gap, where women are slightly more critical of the idea than men are.