Unable to overcome popular distrust, owing to its longstanding symbiosis with the bureaucrats and subservience to the US, the LDP has been incapable of holding the DPJ accountable in the legislature. Instead, the LDP, having failed to reinvigorate itself and attract allies, has occasionally taken a buck-passing approach, such as permitting the DPJ to pass an unpopular but inevitable and necessary increase in the consumption tax.
但其对手、在2009年以前独占执政地位几十年的自民党已经证明自己并不是合格的反对党。由于长期以来与官僚的相互勾结和对美国的屈膝卑躬，自民党无法克服公众的不信任感。自民党没能实现自新和吸引盟友，反而时不时地采取推诿的方针，比如，它允许民主党通过了不受公众支持但有不可避免的消费税的必要增税。