Public support for Kan`s Cabinet drops to new low of 23.6%

TOKYO, Nov. 24 Kyodo -
The support rating for Prime Minister Naoto Kan's embattled Cabinet fell to a
new low of 23.6 percent in a Kyodo News survey released Wednesday, down 9.1
percentage points from the previous poll earlier this month.
The nationwide telephone poll, conducted Tuesday and Wednesday, also found that
the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party gained wider public support than
the ruling Democratic Party of Japan for the first time since Kan's Cabinet was
installed in early June.
A total of 24.6 percent of respondents said they back the LDP, compared with
25.8 percent earlier this month, while support for Kan's DPJ dropped to 22.1
percent from 28.6 percent.
The latest plunge is partly attributable to a spate of problems afflicting the
Kan Cabinet, observers say, including a gaffe by Justice Minister Minoru
Yanagida that led to his resignation on Monday.
Meanwhile, the latest poll showed that 55.5 percent believed Chief Cabinet
Secretary Yoshito Sengoku does not have to step down, while 35.8 percent called
for the top Japanese government spokesman's resignation.
Sengoku has come under criticism, due partly to his handling of government
affairs, and opposition parties are considering submitting a censure motion
against him to the House of Councillors, where they hold a majority.
Concerning Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Sumio Mabuchi,
who is facing similar pressure to resign due to the online leak of confidential
video footage shot by the Japan Coast Guard, 23.1 percent of respondents said
he should resign, while 69.3 percent said he does not have to.
The disapproval rating for the Kan Cabinet stood at 61.9 percent, up from 48.6
percent in the previous poll, with 33.4 percent saying they disapprove of the
Cabinet because Kan lacks leadership skills.
Those who said Yanagida's resignation as justice minister was a matter of
course accounted for 77.2 percent, while 78.5 percent viewed Kan as having
failed to exert his leadership over the matter.
On the planned relocation of a U.S. military base in Okinawa Prefecture, 26.5
percent said they favor moving the facility outside Japan -- the most popular
response when asked about the most suitable relocation site.
Those who said the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station, currently located in
a crowded area in Ginowan on the main Okinawa island, should be moved to the
Nago coastal area on the same island as agreed by the Japanese and U.S.
governments accounted for 23.6 percent.
Overall support for a consumption tax hike stood at 53.8 percent.
Among support ratings for other parties, Your Party secured 9.4 percent,
followed by 4.5 percent for the New Komeito party, 2.2 percent for the Japanese
Communist Party, 1.2 percent for the Social Democratic Party and 0.5 percent
for the People's New Party, the DPJ's coalition partner.
Those who said they do not support any particular party came to 31.0 percent.
The LDP last beat the DPJ in terms of public support in late May in a survey
conducted in the wake of the sacking of a minister who opposed a decision by
then Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's Cabinet to relocate the Futenma base
within Okinawa Prefecture.
Hatoyama resigned as prime minister shortly afterward and was replaced by Kan.
The latest poll covered 1,473 randomly selected households with eligible voters
and valid responses were received from 1,040 individuals.
==Kyodo