Kan continues to enjoy majority of support over Ozawa: Kyodo poll+

TOKYO, Sept. 11 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Naoto Kan continued to enjoy support from a majority of Japanese
as the preferred head of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan ahead of
Tuesday's leadership election against power broker Ichiro Ozawa, a Kyodo News
survey showed Saturday.
The telephone survey conducted Thursday and Friday showed 67.3 percent of those
polled backed Kan to 22.8 percent for Ozawa, a former DPJ secretary general,
compared with the 69.9 percent for Kan and 15.6 percent for Ozawa shown in the
previous Kyodo survey held two weeks ago.
Public support for Kan's Cabinet rose to 54.7 percent from 48.1 percent, while
the disapproval rate dropped 4.7 percentage points to 31.5 percent.
The latest survey, carried out on 1,454 randomly selected voters nationwide, of
whom 1,010 gave valid answers, clearly showed dissatisfaction among the public
with the explanations Ozawa has made on a political fund scandal in which he
has been embroiled.
As many as 84.6 percent of the respondents said they were not convinced by what
Ozawa has said regarding the scandal, a result that political observers say
could influence ''swing voters'' among DPJ lawmakers.
On Tuesday, judicial sources said an independent judicial panel has recently
launched its second review of whether decisions by prosecutors not to indict
Ozawa over false financial reporting by his political fund management body were
appropriate.
Ozawa has made it clear that even if he becomes prime minister after winning
the DPJ leadership election and faces mandatory indictment after the panel's
latest review, he would agree to it and stand trial to prove his innocence. He
could avoid being prosecuted on the basis of a constitutional interpretation
that the prime minister should not be prosecuted without his own consent.
Asked which of the candidates can perform better in helping to improve Japan's
economic and employment issues, 50.5 percent picked Kan, while 31.0 percent
named Ozawa. As for handling the divided parliament where the DPJ holds a
majority in the lower house but lacks one in the upper house, 36.7 percent
thought Kan would be better coping with the situation, marginally higher than
the 36.6 percent Ozawa received.
In relation to Cabinet support, topping the list of reasons for backing Kan's
Cabinet was the lack of suitable alternatives for the prime minister's post, at
46.5 percent. The main reason cited for disapproval was low expectations of its
economic policies, at 36.2 percent.
Ozawa, however, is believed to wield his clout more powerfully than Kan as 44.8
percent said the DPJ will be able to achieve its goal of reducing the power of
bureaucrats if Ozawa becomes prime minister. Kan got support from 42.6 percent
on the matter.
When it comes to the entire set of pledges the DPJ delivered before last year's
general election, which brought the party into power, 66.9 percent backed Kan,
who has expressed his intention to revise the manifesto, while 24.4 percent
favored Ozawa, who aims to stick to the campaign pledges.
Among other items that featured in the survey, higher support for Ozawa over
Kan came on their respective policies over tax and military base issues. Ozawa
is critical of Kan's proposal to push ahead with discussion of a consumption
tax hike, and is calling for renegotiating a Japan-U.S. agreement reached in
May to move the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station within Okinawa
Prefecture.
Support for major political parties stood at 38.2 percent for the DPJ, up 5.6
points, and 23.7 percent for the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, down
1.0 point.
They are followed by 10.5 percent for Your Party, 4.1 percent for the New
Komeito party, 3.0 percent for the Japanese Communist Party, 1.3 percent for
the Social Democratic Party, and 0.8 percent each for the People's New Party
and the Sunrise Party of Japan. The survey also found 14.3 percent support no
particular party.
==Kyodo
2010-09-11 23:50:55