Young voters can’t get enough of Japan’s conservative prime minister

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. TOKYO—Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is on course for a big election win, according to polls, propelled by a section of the electorate that political leaders worldwide struggle to reach: young people.

Takaichi and her ruling coalition are set to snap up dozens of extra seats in a national vote Sunday, according to surveys of voting intentions, a projected victory that reflects the 64-year-old’s personal popularity with voters who see her as an antidote to a male-dominated and sometimes stuffy political class. Takaichi is striking a chord with younger voters in particular, who say they respect her outsider status and straight-talking, decisive style.

One late January poll found 84% of respondents in their 20s and 78% of those in their 30s backed the prime minister and her cabinet, compared with 67% of voters overall. She is adept at appealing to younger voters on social media, turning usually dry diplomatic summits into viral hits: She played along to K-pop hits on matching drum sets with South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung and snapped selfies with Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister.

On policy, she has appealed directly to younger voters’ wallets with cuts to gasoline taxes and pledges to boost take-home pay through tax changes, especially for young families on lower incomes. “She seems like a capable and dependable person.

I feel she could be the one to change Japan," said Kaede Suzuki, a 32-year-old mother of three children, ages 10, 8 and 5. “I think she’s popular because she’s different from what it’s been like before." An emphatic victory for Takaichi and her Liberal Democratic Party would cement her grip on power and embolden her to pursue her vision of revitalizing