Approval rate for Aso Cabinet below 20%, nearly half support Ozawa

TOKYO, Jan. 11 Kyodo -
The approval rate for Prime Minister Taro Aso's Cabinet came to 19.2 percent in
a weekend survey conducted by Kyodo News, down 6.3 percentage points from the
previous survey in December and falling far below the ''critical'' 30-percent
mark.
The disapproval rate came to 70.2 percent, up 8.9 points, with 46.4 percent of
respondents saying they would prefer Ichiro Ozawa, leader of the main
opposition Democratic Party of Japan, as prime minister, up 11.9 points.
In the telephone survey conducted Saturday and Sunday, only 22.1 percent said
they prefer Aso to lead the country, down 11.4 points.
The survey results suggest a tough road ahead for Aso in managing the
administration and deciding when to dissolve the House of Representatives for a
general election.
The support rate for the Aso Cabinet, launched in September, plunged below the
30 percent line to a level considered critical in terms of survival in media
surveys in December.
It is generally believed that a Cabinet will find it difficult to remain in
power when the public support rate falls below the 30 percent threshold.
It is the first time that the disapproval rate for a Cabinet has surpassed 70
percent in a Kyodo poll since the administration of Yoshiro Mori, who took the
helm for about a year through April 2001.
On the government's 2 trillion yen cash handout program, 70.5 percent said in
the latest survey that they do not support it, up 12.4 points from a survey in
November, while 23.7 percent expressed support, down 7.7 points.
Of the respondents, 42.0 percent said the money should rather be used for
pensions, medical services and other social security purposes, while 26.3
percent said it should be used for employment measures. Only 3.3 percent said
the money should be used for the cash benefits.
The government's cash payment program calls for providing a minimum of 12,000
yen per person to support households. The amount increases to 20,000 yen for
those aged 18 or younger and 65 or older.
Among the reasons cited by respondents for not supporting the Aso Cabinet, 28.8
percent said they do not expect any good to come from his economic policies,
22.6 percent said the prime minister does not have leadership skills and 18.2
percent said they do not trust the premier.
Topping the reasons for preferring Ozawa, 36.9 percent said they have good
expectations of his policies.
Asked what type of government they would like to see, 51.4 percent of
respondents said they would prefer a government led by the DPJ and 30.5 percent
said they preferred one led by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
With regard to the proportional representation section in the next House of
Representatives election, 39.7 percent said they would vote for the DPJ and
26.3 percent said they would cast ballots for the LDP.
On the timing of the election, 33.7 percent said they hoped it would be held
immediately, while 32.7 percent said they would prefer the election to be held
after passage of the fiscal 2009 budget around April.
In the telephone poll, calls were made to numbers randomly selected by
computer. A total of 1,477 calls were made to households including eligible
voters, of whom 1,025 people responded to the survey.
==Kyodo