Support for Kan Cabinet slips to 58%: Kyodo poll

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TOKYO, June 21 Kyodo -
Public support for the Cabinet of Prime Minister Naoto Kan slipped by 6
percentage points from a week earlier to 58.8 percent in the latest Kyodo News
telephone poll, while the ruling party's lead over the main opposition party
for the upcoming election narrowed, the results released Monday showed.
The decline appears to stem from Kan's remark last week about the consumption
tax rate, in which he said he would consider 10 percent as ''one of the
references'' for raising the rate from the current 5 percent.
The disapproval rate for Kan, who assumed power June 8, stood at 30.0 percent,
up 6.4 percent, according to the poll conducted Saturday and Sunday based on
replies from 1,228 randomly selected households nationwide.
Asked which party they will vote for in the proportional representation section
of the July 11 House of Councillors election, 26.3 percent cited the governing
Democratic Party of Japan, while 15.8 percent said they will vote for the main
opposition Liberal Democratic Party.
The DPJ's lead over the LDP shrank by 4.4 points from the previous poll to 10.5
percent.
The two major parties were followed in terms of support in the proportional
representation block by Your Party at 5.1 percent, New Komeito at 4.4 percent,
the Japanese Communist Party at 2.7 percent, and the Social Democratic Party at
1.5 percent.
Small parties continued to struggle to gain support, with the Sunrise Party of
Japan getting a paltry 0.6 percent, and the People's New Party, the DPJ's
ruling coalition partner, 0.4 percent.
On whether the DPJ-led coalition should dominate the upper house with a
majority of seats, 54.3 percent said it should and 36.7 percent said it should
not, almost unchanged from the previous poll
If the DPJ-led coalition fails to dominate the upper house, 42.2 percent said
the lower house should be dissolved for an election, while only 3.6 percent
said the prime minister should be replaced.
The survey also showed 81.7 percent were either ''greatly'' or ''to some
extent'' interested in the forthcoming election.
Among 56.7 percent of people who said they support no particular party, 33.7
percent said they would support the DPJ if they were to choose a party, while
16.5 percent said they would support the LDP and 7.2 percent said they would
support Your Party.
==Kyodo