Support for Abe Cabinet edges down to 68.0%: Kyodo poll

(TOKYO-Kyodo) Support for the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has edged down to 68.0 percent in the latest poll from 70.9 percent last month, a Kyodo News survey showed Sunday.

It is the first time since January that the Cabinet approval rating has fallen below 70 percent. Analysts say recent stock market turbulence is believed to have weighed on the support rate but high expectations for Abe's economic policies is expected to support the Abe administration ahead of the upcoming upper house election.

The disapproval rating stood at 16.3 percent, up a tad from 16.2 percent in the previous survey.

In a telephone survey conducted on Saturday and Sunday, 65.0 percent of respondents said they expect positive effects from "Abenomics," or the economic policies pursued by Abe, to turn around Japan's deflation-battered economy, against 29 percent who replied they are not expecting much.

The latest nationwide survey covered 1,440 eligible voters, of whom 1,010 responded.

On Abe's controversial proposal to revise Article 96 of the Constitution to make constitutional amendments easier, 51.6 percent opposed the proposal, topping 50 percent for the first time since March when the question was added. Some 37.2 percent expressed support.

The survey also found 49.8 percent supported Japan's export of nuclear power technology as promoted by Abe, while 43 percent were against it.

As for Japan's current monetary easing policy, 25.6 percent said it should be maintained and 20.2 percent called for a review, while 50.3 percent said they had no opinion on the matter.

Asked which party they will vote for in the proportional representation section of the House of Councillors' election this summer, 44.6 percent of respondents supported the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, up 0.2 point, followed by 7.9 percent who will vote for the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, up 1.1 point.

The New Komeito party came third at 6.4 percent, up 2.0 point, while the Japan Restoration Party fell to fourth at 4.5 percent, down 1.2 point, following party co-leader Toru Hashimoto's controversial remarks about wartime sex slavery, which drew harsh criticism at home and abroad.

Also 65.6 percent said they do not have expectations for the Japan Restoration Party in the upcoming election, while 27.3 percent voiced expectations for the party.

Hashimoto, who concurrently serves as Osaka Mayor, said in early May that the system of military brothels using comfort women, as they are euphemistically known in Japan, was "necessary" to maintain discipline in the Japanese military before and during World War II.

Some 41.0 percent said they could understand Hashimoto's subsequent explanations on the remarks, while 53.9 percent said they could not. A smaller percentage of women than men responded that they could understand the explanations.

As for party support ratings, the LDP was preferred by 48.1 percent, down 0.4 point. The DPJ followed at 7.0 percent, up 1.1 point, while the New Komeito party, the LDP's ruling coalition partner, secured 5.2 percent support, up 2.0 points.

Support for the Japan Restoration Party stood at 4.2 percent, down 0.6 point, while the Your Party secured 3.6 percent and the Japanese Communist Party 2.0 percent.