Political leaders everywhere have difficulties accessing young people, as the polls show Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaki is about to win a big election race.

Surveys of intended voter behaviour show that Takaki and her ruling coalition will scoop a dozen or more additional seats in a national ballot on Sunday, a projected defeat that can be credited to the personal popularity of the 64-year-old woman who, according to voters, is an antidote to a male-dominated and even stuffy political elite.

Takiichi is resonating well with younger voters, especially by claiming that they admire her outsider status and her outspoken and decisive approach. A poll conducted in late January included 84 per cent of the people aged between 20 and 30 years and 78 per cent of those aged between 30 and 40 years, indicating support of the prime minister and her cabinet among the youth versus 67 per cent of the electorate.

She is skilled at appealing to younger voters on social media and to make otherwise stodgy diplomatic meetings viral: She danced to K-pop hits on identical drum sets with President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea and took photos with Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister of Italy.

On policy, she has directly addressed the pockets of younger voters with gasoline tax cuts and promises to increase take-home pay with tax reforms, particularly for young families with lower incomes.

“She appears to be an efficient and reliable individual. Though I believe she might transform Japan,” said Kaede Suzuki, who was a mother of 3 children between 10, 8 and 5 years. “I believe she is popular because she is not the same as she has always been before.”

A decisive leadership re-election of Takiichi and her Liberal Democratic Party would solidify her position in power and would give her confidence to follow her vision in the reinvention of the Japanese economy and promote stagnant incomes through robust fiscal expenditure.

She is a security hawk who prefers closer relations with the U.S. and an improved army as a countermeasure in Asia against the emerging assertiveness of China.

This has already seen Takiichi go head-on with Beijing, following some remarks made about Taiwan during her hectic first three months in office, causing a Chinese squeeze on critical minerals used in manufacturing, among other economic reprisals.

Instead of damaging her electoral prospects, her hardline attitude in relation to Beijing has, on the contrary, increased her popularity, even among younger voters who were put off by the safe approach of the traditional politicians to China and other controversial topics.

Yuta Takahashi, 28, who had come to wait on the prime minister at an election rally in Saitama, north of Tokyo, said there were not many people who were so straight in their speech in Japanese politics.

The 30-year journey that Takaichi has made to the top office as a lowly leader in two attempts to attain the leadership of the LDP is an aligned contrast to the privileged history of most of the successful Japanese politicians.

She had Shinjiro Koizumi, the son of the former Prime Minister Junchiro Koizumi, as her chief rival in the presidency of the Liberal Democratic Party. The third member of the family to become a prime minister was her political mentor, the late prime minister Shinzo Abe.

Being the first woman leader in the country, a good number of voters, particularly the women, are ready to see her through, according to Tobias Harris, the founder of a consulting firm, Japan Foresight.

Harris said that people are motivated by what she went through to reach this point. “I believe that they are simply reacting to the fact that she is a different type of a leader. She appears to be someone who is going to get things done.”

Takiichi is a workaholic who promised to continue working, working, working and working for the people of Japan when she assumed power in October. She invited President Trump to Japan in a diplomatic trial by fire just a few days later, and this was viewed as a massive success in Japan.

Takiichi has been playing out the lighter side that has made her likeable as well. In her X, which is a Twitter account, she combines high-level diplomatic messages with odd commentary about her clothes and comments on making dinner.

There is a little bit of projection that Takiichi may make the LDP win an absolute majority in the lower house of Japan, which is more powerful, and this is something that the party could not achieve in the past ten years.

Nevertheless, younger voters do not vote as frequently as older people in Japan and other countries do. That would put opposition parties ahead during close contests in the 465 seats that are being contested during the weekend.

The other twist that can be created is that some youths claim to like Takiichi but are less enthusiastic about the LDP, which has ruled most of the post-war history of Japan.