2026 POLLS: LDP’s Takaichi Overwhelming Rivals in Social Media Battle

Tokyo, Feb. 6 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, is overwhelming her rivals in a battle to go viral on social media, according to an analysis. Jiji Press assessed posts made by party chiefs on X, formerly Twitter, between Jan. 27, when the official campaign period for Sunday’s House of Representatives election kicked off, and Thursday, and compared them with those uploaded for last July’s House of Councillors election using social media analytics tool Brandwatch. The analysis showed that Takaichi had made 65 posts during the reporting period, garnering an average of about 5,200 reposts each. The number of reposts is considered a yardstick of how viral an individual is on social media. Her figure was significantly higher than about 200 reposts per post by then LDP President and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba for the 2025 election for the upper chamber of the Diet, the country’s parliament. In the current campaign, “my final request,” an entry made by Takaichi on Thursday attracted the highest number of reposts, with over 35,000. In the opposition camp, Centrist Reform Alliance co-leaders Yoshihiko Noda and Tetsuo Saito both enjoyed more reposts during the ongoing campaign period for the all-important lower chamber of the Diet, compared with reposts for their messages for the last Upper House election. The party was formed recently by the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Komeito, the LDP’s previous coalition partner. The average number of reposts rose four-fold to around 2,000 for Saito, while the figure for Noda surged 10-fold to some 800. The increases are believed to reflect reposts by supporters hoping to boost the new party’s name recognition. On the other hand, the average number of reposts fell from some 600 to around 300 for Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki. Meanwhile, Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya has been struggling to boost his social media influence in the ongoing election campaign as well. Although frequently urging social media users to spread his party’s policies, he has garnered an average of about 1,600 reposts, around half of the 3,100 or so gained during the Upper House election campaign. Still, Sanseito’s core supporters appear as enthusiastic in the latest election campaign as they were in the previous election race. An analysis of the number of X posts containing hashtags of party catchphrases showed that Sanseito’s “#hitorihitoriganihon” (each individual is part of Japan) was included in 340,000 posts. This was far more than 190,000 posts using the Centrist Reform Alliance’s “#seikatsushafirst” (consumers first) and 90,000 posts citing the LDP’s “#nihonrettowotsuyokuyutakani” (making the Japanese archipelago stronger and more prosperous). The number of daily posts featuring Sanseito’s phrase doubled when compared with that of posts featuring the party’s slogan during the Upper House election campaign, “#nihonjinfirst” (Japanese first). END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]