Support rate for Aso Cabinet hits new low after minister`s resignation

TOKYO, Feb. 18 Kyodo -
Public discontent with the already shaky Cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister
Taro Aso has grown after the resignation of his finance minister with the
support rate for Aso's Cabinet down to 13.4 percent, results of a Kyodo News
survey showed Wednesday.
The support rate in the survey, conducted hours after Finance Minister Shoichi
Nakagawa stepped down Tuesday, represents a decline of 4.7 percentage points
from the previous poll carried out Feb. 7 to 8.
The disapproval rate was up 5.7 percentage points to 76.6 percent.
Nakagawa resigned amid criticism for appearing to be drunk at a press
conference after the Group of Seven financial leaders' meeting in Rome last
weekend, adding to public discontent with the administration of Aso, whose
support rate has dropped consistently since he assumed office last September.
The majority of those responding to the telephone survey were critical of
Nakagawa's behavior at the G-7 meeting, with 84.1 percent saying his
resignation was a ''natural consequence'' and only 12.8 percent saying he did
not have to step down.
In the survey, phone calls were made to numbers selected randomly by computer.
A total of 1,448 households with eligible voters were called, with valid
responses received from 1,022 individuals.
With figures reminiscent of those prior to the fall of former Prime Minister
Yoshiro Mori's Cabinet in 2001, the new poll adds to speculation that the
Liberal Democratic Party could lose its grip on power in a general election,
which must be held by this fall.
Critics say Aso is likely to face extra pressure to call an election as early
as possible to test his public mandate, but voters appear to favor a major
shift in power.
Of the respondents in the latest survey, 53.4 percent said they would prefer a
government led by the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, compared with
the 28.1 percent who said they prefer the government to be led by Aso's LDP.
Asked when the lower house of parliament should be dissolved for an election,
32.0 percent said ''immediately,'' while 38.8 percent said an election should
take place around April after the Diet passes a fiscal 2009 budget.
Commenting on the survey results, DPJ leader Ichiro Ozawa responded that Aso is
''no longer functioning as a prime minister.''
Nakagawa's resignation ''displayed an ugly scene to the whole world and many
Japanese feel embarrassed, too,'' he said.
Also in the survey, when asked who they view as the person most suitable to be
prime minister, 46.6 percent of respondents said Ozawa, compared with 20.4
percent who named Aso.
Even before the latest survey, public confidence in Aso's administration had
plunged to a point considered critical for him to remain in power due largely
to his handling of economic stimulus measures, including an unpopular cash
handout plan, questions about his leadership ability and a series of verbal
gaffes.
There could be a move within the LDP to remove Aso as president of the party,
particularly after former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who remains
influential within the party, launched a tirade following Aso's recent remarks
against postal privatization.
Aso said earlier this month he would review the current four-company setup
under Japan Post Holdings Co. launched in 2007 as part of Japan's postal
privatization process spearheaded by Koizumi.
Later Wednesday, Koizumi showed further dissent against Aso by saying he
intends to sit out a lower house revote, if necessary, if the ruling coalition
forces passage of a bill needed to implement a controversial cash handout plan
through a revote.
The bill to finance the plan, a pillar of Aso's program to spur spending, is
expected to be voted down in the opposition-controlled upper house, meaning it
would require an endorsement with a two-thirds majority in a revote in the more
powerful lower house.
In the latest poll, 61.3 percent said they opposed such a revote, to 29.9
percent who expressed support for it.
==Kyodo