AKIPRESS.COM - Japanese in their teens and 20s backed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition in Sunday’s parliamentary voting, according to exit polls, a sign that Mr. Abe’s hawkish security policy and the improved job market were well-received.

The election was the first time 18- and 19-year-olds could vote in a national election after a 2015 legal change, and the first time since December 2014 that the nation had a chance to express its feelings on Mr. Abe’s “Abenomics” economic package. Mr. Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party and a smaller coalition ally together won 70 of the 121 seats up for grabs in parliament’s upper house, Wall Street Journal reports.

According to an election-day survey of 75,000 voters by Kyodo News, 40% of 18- and 19-year-olds voted for the generally conservative LDP, and the two coalition parties collectively won just over half the vote. More than 40% of people in their 20s and 30s voted for the LDP, while support for the party was below 40% for ages 40 and above, Kyodo said.

Other large surveys by Japanese media organizations reported similar results, which contrast with the liberal or radical leanings of young voters in the U.S. and some other developed nations.

According to a survey by national broadcaster NHK, 64% of teens rated Abenomics very highly or somewhat highly, compared with 56% overall.

“The 18- and 19-year-olds who were able to vote this time felt the striking improvement in new graduate hiring, and it looks like there was big support for Abenomics,” said Société Générale economist Takuji Aida. “The opposition parties weren’t able to propose an effective alternative economic-revitalization package to Abenomics.”