Kan Cabinet`s support rate rises to 64%: Kyodo poll

TOKYO, June 14 Kyodo -
Public support for the Cabinet of new Prime Minister Naoto Kan hit 64.8 percent
on the weekend, rising 3.3 percentage points from the previous survey conducted
right after its launch last Tuesday, a Kyodo News poll showed Monday.
The latest telephone poll, conducted Saturday and Sunday, indicated Friday's
abrupt resignation by Shizuka Kamei, leader of coalition partner the People's
New Party as minister in charge of banking sector and postal reform, did not
influence people's views on the Cabinet, with the disapproval rate standing at
23.6 percent, down from 25.2 percent.
Asked which party or candidate they will vote for in the upcoming House of
Councillors election, 29.4 percent said they intended to vote for the ruling
Democratic Party of Japan in the proportional representation segment and 30.6
percent said they will support DPJ candidates in constituencies, each garnering
about twice as much support as those given to the main opposition Liberal
Democratic Party, with 14.5 percent and 15.7 percent, respectively.
The upper house election, expected to be held on July 11, combines a
proportional representation block in which voters choose the party they support
and single constituencies in which voters elect individual candidates.
The outcome of the election is still hard to predict as the largest proportion
of respondents -- 36.7 percent in the proportional representation section and
36.9 percent in the constituency section -- were undecided.
The two major parties were followed in terms of support in the proportional
representation block by Your Party at 4.6 percent, New Komeito at 4.4 percent,
the Japanese Communist Party at 2.5 percent, and the Social Democratic Party at
1.9 percent.
Recently established small parties were struggling to garner support, with the
Sunrise Party of Japan getting support from 1.0 percent, the People's New Party
from 0.8 percent, the Spirit of Japan Party from 0.4 percent, the New Party
Nippon from 0.3 percent, and the New Renaissance Party from 0.2 percent.
About a quarter, or 25.1 percent, cited policies as the main factor they will
consider in casting their ballots, while 24.0 percent cited the reliability of
a particular party or a candidate, followed by the prime minister's leadership
qualities at 16.2 percent.
On whether the DPJ-led coalition should dominate the upper house with a
majority of seats, 55.3 percent said it should and 35.4 said it should not.
The survey also showed 82.5 percent were either ''greatly'' or ''to some
extent'' interested in the forthcoming election, up 7.3 points from the figure
in a survey conducted about a month before the previous upper house election in
2007.
The voters' trend survey was conducted by calling 1,771 randomly selected
households with eligible voters, of whom 1,248, or about 70 percent, gave valid
answers.
==Kyodo