Kan's new Cabinet gets 32.2% support rating, up 8.6 points from Dec.

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TOKYO, Jan. 15 Kyodo -
The reshuffled Cabinet of Prime Minister Naoto Kan received a support rating of
32.2 percent in a Kyodo News survey released Saturday, up 8.6 points from the
previous survey in late December.
In a nationwide telephone poll conducted Friday and Saturday, 54.3 percent of
respondents supported a consumption tax hike, compared with 43.3 percent
opposed to an increase, while 56.9 percent said Japan should join a
trans-Pacific free trade agreement, far exceeding the 25.4 percent against it.
As for Democratic Party of Japan kingpin Ichiro Ozawa, who will be indicted
possibly later this month over a political funds scandal, 58.7 percent called
on the former party chief to resign as a lawmaker and 22.4 percent said he
should leave the party.
The survey, conducted after Kan reshuffled his Cabinet on Friday, showed 22.7
percent backing the DPJ, up from 20.6 percent in the previous poll, while the
support rate for the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party edged down to
24.1 percent from 24.6 percent.
The survey covered 1,451 randomly selected households with eligible voters and
valid responses were received from 1,038 individuals.
In the Cabinet reshuffle, Kan recruited fiscal conservative veteran lawmakers,
apparently demonstrating his resolve to promote fiscal consolidation, although
the move also fueled speculation that his government is embarking on a path to
raise the current consumption tax rate of 5 percent.
Kan is also expected to accelerate discussions on whether Japan should join the
Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multilateral free trade initiative backed by the
United States, under the revamped Cabinet.
Kan, who has vowed to eradicate money politics, did not offer any key posts to
lawmakers closely affiliated with Ozawa in the reshuffle.
According to the survey, 55.2 percent supported the replacement in the Cabinet
reshuffle of Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku, against whom a nonbinding
censure motion was approved in November in the opposition-controlled House of
Councillors, while 32.8 percent replied they did not support the step.
The survey showed 44.9 percent have expectations of Kaoru Yosano, a veteran
lawmaker and fiscal conservative who was newly appointed as economic and fiscal
policy minister after leaving a tiny opposition party, while 48.2 percent said
they do not have any positive expectations for him.
The ratio of those who think the House of Representatives should be dissolved
during the 150-day ordinary Diet session scheduled to be convened Jan. 24 and a
general election should be held by the summer came to 35.4 percent.
The survey showed 18.8 percent favored the dissolution of the lower house and a
subsequent general election sometime after this autumn, while 10.6 percent
cited next year and 28.6 percent favored 2013 when current lower house members'
terms of office expire.
Asked in a multiple-answer question, 53.3 percent said the new Cabinet should
place priority on steps to improve the economy and employment, 35.1 percent
favored reforms to the nation's social security system and 15.5 percent wanted
fiscal reconstruction.
==Kyodo
2011-01-15 22:40:08