Approval for PM Hatoyama's Cabinet plunges to 20.7%: Kyodo poll+

TOKYO, April 29 Kyodo -
Public support for Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's government dropped further
as the approval rate for his Cabinet fell below 30 percent for the first time
since its launch last September to stand at 20.7 percent, a Kyodo News survey
showed Thursday.
The telephone poll conducted Wednesday and Thursday found that the approval
rate declined 12.3 percentage points from the previous survey conducted April 3
and 4, adding to the pressure on the already embattled government ahead of this
summer's upper house election.
The disapproval rate rose 11.1 points to 64.4 percent. Hatoyama's ''lack of
leadership'' was mentioned by 40.7 percent -- the largest segment -- of the
respondents who disapprove of his Cabinet.
In the latest survey, a total of 1,458 households with eligible voters were
called and valid responses were received from 1,040 individuals.
The survey was taken after an independent judicial panel decided earlier this
week that Ichiro Ozawa, secretary general of Hatoyama's Democratic Party of
Japan, merits indictment over his fund management body's alleged false
reporting of political funds in 2004 and 2005.
As many as 83.8 percent of the survey respondents said Ozawa should leave his
post, up 2.4 points, while 10.3 percent said he should remain in the DPJ's No.
2 position, down 4.2 points.
As for the issue of relocating the U.S. Marines' Futemma Air Station in Okinawa
Prefecture, 54.4 percent said Hatoyama should step down if he fails to settle
the matter by the self-imposed end-of-May deadline.
The figure, which represents a 7.3-point increase from the previous survey and
surpasses 50 percent for the first time, outnumbered the 39.2 percent who said
there is no need for him to step down, down 6.1 points.
The support rate for the DPJ was down 6.2 points to 24.1 percent, while it
edged up 0.7 point to 18.7 percent for the main opposition Liberal Democratic
Party. Your Party, which was formed by reformists before the general election
held last August, saw public support rise above 10 percent for the first time
at 11.5 percent, while 29.0 percent said they have no specific party to
support.
Asked which party they would vote for in the proportional representation
section of the House of Councillors election, 23.4 percent chose the DPJ and
19.9 percent selected the LDP. The prospective support rate jumped to 12.0
percent from 9.8 percent for Your Party.
More than half the respondents, 56.1 percent, said it would be desirable that
the DPJ does not secure a majority in the upper house by itself.
Asked who was best suited to prime minister, former Health, Labor and Welfare
Minister Yoichi Masuzoe remained on top of the list. But support for him
slipped from 22.4 percent to 18.3 percent in the first survey conducted after
he left the LDP and announced the launch of a new party.
Seiji Maehara, minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism, surged
into second with 10.6 percent. Maehara, who is in an anti-Ozawa group within
the DPJ, had just 4.9 percent support in the previous poll.
Other than the two main parties, the support rate stood at 3.1 percent for the
New Komeito party, 2.7 percent for the Japanese Communist Party, 1.6 percent
each for the Social Democratic Party and Masuzoe's Shinto Kaikaku, and 1.3
percent for the Sunrise Party of Japan.
==Kyodo
2010-04-29 21:02:23