Support for DPJ surges, high hopes cited for new leader Kan: poll+

TOKYO, June 5 Kyodo -
Support for the governing Democratic Party of Japan surged to 36.1 percent in
the latest poll conducted Friday and Saturday by Kyodo News, with 57.6 percent
expressing high hopes for Naoto Kan, who has just been elected new party leader
and prime minister.
The support rate for the DPJ in the telephone poll represented a 15.6
percentage point jump from the previous survey conducted on May 29 and 30, just
before Kan's predecessor Yukio Hatoyama announced his resignation as prime
minister.
Of the just over 1,000 respondents in the survey conducted after Kan was
elected leader of the party and government, 37.2 percent said they do not have
any hopes for Kan.
In the previous survey, Hatoyama's Cabinet recorded a dismal approval rating of
19.1 percent.
While the major opposition Liberal Democratic Party claimed the highest support
rate for the first time in the late May poll, the DPJ reclaimed the title in
the latest survey, attracting 36.1 percent support, much higher than the LDP's
20.8 percent support rate.
The latest poll also showed that 32.6 percent intend to vote for the DPJ in the
proportional representation section in the upcoming House of Councillors
election in July, up 12.7 points from the previous poll, while 23.4 percent
intend to vote for the LDP, up 2.5 points.
The DPJ has apparently recaptured unaffiliated voters who had become
disillusioned with the party when it was led by Hatoyama. Support for the DPJ
among unaffiliated voters surged 9.7 points to 13.4 percent, while the total
proportion of such voters dropped 9.9 points to 17.6 percent.
As for expectations regarding Kan, the survey showed the largest number of
voters, 32.3 percent, hope Kan will exercise leadership, followed by 21.4
percent who expect to him to be accountable to the nation.
Asked which issue Kan should place priority on, the economy and employment
measures came first with 43.2 percent, followed by administrative and fiscal
reforms, cited by 35.3 percent.
On the Hatoyama government, most voters held negative views with a total of
62.2 percent saying they do not value at all or do not value much what it had
achieved.
Support rates for other political parties ranged from 8.3 percent for Your
Party to 0.3 percent for both the People's New Party and the Sunrise Party of
Japan.
Asked which combination of parties would be best in forming a coalition
government, 16.1 percent cited the current coalition of the DPJ and the
People's New Party, while 28.6 percent hoped that another minor party, such as
Your Party, would join the coalition.
Other options cited were forming a grand coalition involving the DPJ and the
LDP at 14.4 percent, and a coalition with the Social Democratic Party, which
left Hatoyama's government over a dispute related to the relocation of a U.S.
military base in Okinawa Prefecture, at 9.2 percent.
The poll was conducted by calling randomly selected eligible voters in 1,452
households, of which 1,026 voters gave valid responses.
==Kyodo
2010-06-06 00:00:21


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