Poll: Japan voters unhappy with political parties

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-19 15:13

TOKYO -- Nearly 80 percent of Japanese voters are unhappy with both the country's ruling and main opposition political parties, a newspaper survey published Sunday said amid speculation elections will be held next month.

The poll by Japan's top-selling daily Yomiuri daily found 78 percent of respondents were not happy with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Prime Minister Taro Aso heads the party, which has governed Japan for all but a 10-month stretch since it was founded in 1955.

The survey also found 79 percent of respondents were not happy with the country's biggest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan, either.

Since Aso took office in September media attention has been focused on when the prime minister will dissolve the lower house of parliament and hold general elections. Newspapers have predicted snap polls could take place in late November.

The Yomiuri survey said 57 percent of respondents favored Aso for prime minister. Only 26 percent said they wanted Ichiro Ozawa, the leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, for the top job.

The poll was conducted by face-to-face interviews nationwide this month with 3,000 eligible voters. Of those, 1,787 people, or 59.6 percent, responded, the Yomiuri said.

The paper provided no margin of error, but a survey of that size would generally have a margin of plus or minus three percentage points.