Japan PM's approval rating falls to 36%

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-20 12:50

TOKYO - Public support for Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso fell to just over one-third in a media poll published on Monday, the latest bad news for the premier as he considers whether to call a snap election.

Speculation is mounting that Aso, who took office last month, will call an early vote for the lower house in a bid to break a stalement in parliament although no election need be held until September 2009.

Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso reviews members of the Japan Self-Defense Force (SDF) during the annual Self-Defense Forces Day review of the troops at Hyakuri Air Base, north of Tokyo Sunday, Oct. 19, 2008. [Agencies]

But worries about fallout on Japan's faltering economy from the global financial crisis, and concern about a dip in ratings for the premier and his party could stay Aso's hand, analysts say.

Support for Aso's cabinet fell 36 percent in a weekend survey by the Mainichi newspaper, down nine points from September. The telephone survey covered 1,044 respondents.

The survey also showed that more respondents would want the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) to win in a general election.

Forty-eight percent said they want the Democrats to win, up 11 points from the previous survey, while 36 percent favoured the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), down 5 points.

Aso, who favours tax cuts and spending to boost an economy already slipping into recession, has repeatedly said he wants to put priority on economic measures. The government aims to produce an outline of a package of such steps by the end of the month.

Despite flagging support for his party, more voters said they preferred Aso for prime minister than Democratic Party leader Ichiro Ozawa, a former LDP heavyweight who bolted the ruling party 15 years ago and has been trying to topple it ever since.

Forty percent of voters said they favoured Aso while 18 percent picked Ozawa, an old-style politician who critics say is more at ease with back-room strategising than TV cameras.

In an effort to charm young voters who might lean towards the manga comic-loving Aso, Ozawa appeared on a live Internet broadcast on Sunday, speaking with a young Japanese actress on topics ranging from political apathy to his first lost love.

"People have a feeling that nothing will change even if there is an election," Ozawa told the actress.

But he added: "Japan will certainly change" when he becomes premier, according to an account of the broadcast on the DPJ's website.