Newspaper polls find rise in support for shuffled Fukuda Cabinet

TOKYO, Aug. 3 Kyodo - Opinion polls by two Japanese newspapers showed increases Sunday in support for Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's shuffled Cabinet, with one saying the approval rate remained unchanged, though disapproval dropped.

The Yomiuri Shimbun daily said support increased to 41.3 percent in a telephone poll. The previous poll based on interviews in July put the support rate at 26.6 percent.

Disapproval was down to 47 percent from 61.3 percent, according to the Yomiuri survey covering 1,006 people.

The Mainichi Shimbun newspaper said approval stood at 25 percent in a telephone survey of 921 people, up 3 points from a survey in July, while disapproval fell 2 points to 52 percent.

The Asahi Shimbun newspaper said support in the latest survey of 1,002 people stood unchanged at 24 percent from its July survey, while disapproval fell 3 points to 55 percent.

In all the three polls, the majority of those surveyed said they gave high marks to the appointment of Taro Aso as Liberal Democratic Party secretary general. Aso, generally popular with voters, was a rival of Fukuda's in the most recent LDP presidential election last year.

The three newspapers conducted the polls Friday night -- immediately after the new Cabinet roster was announced -- and Saturday.

The support rate also increased in a Kyodo News survey conducted after the Cabinet shuffle, by 4.7 points from July, to 31.5 percent, while disapproval
fell 5.4 points to 48.1 percent.