Jumat, 26 September 2008

Poll: New Japanese PM's government starts with lowest public support in 8 years

TOKYO _ Public support for Japan's new Prime Minister Taro Aso is the lowest of any newly appointed prime minister in eight years, according to several newspaper polls published Friday.

The polls mainly show support for Aso below 50 percent, indicating he has failed to garner the warm public reception awarded to recent prime ministers in the early days of their administration.

They also indicate Aso's ruling Liberal Democratic Party may face a tight race if he calls for parliamentary elections under the political climate. Speculation is rife that elections will be held in late October or early November, and his tepid popularity could mean the LDP loses its grip on power for the first time in decades. The elections must be held by next September.

Aso, who was in New York for the United Nations general assembly, told reporters it was too soon to judge him.

"I should be evaluated after my work gets in full swing ... I'm not very interested in the support rate" right now, he said.

Japan's largest newspaper, the Yomiuri, published a poll showing 49.5 percent of respondents support Aso's administration. Three other major newspapers and Kyodo News Agency all had support at less than 50 percent, while the Nikkei business daily had support at 53 percent.

Support for the administration is at its lowest level for a new government since 2001, when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi stormed into office with many polls showing 80 percent of voters backed him. He used his popularity to revitalize the LDP and launch a wave of government reforms that injected life into the domestic economy.

As his legacy and the popularity of his party fades, the silver-maned politician is widely reported to be stepping away from politics at the end of his term in parliament.

Aso, a former foreign minister, was elected Wednesday in parliament as Japan's third prime minister in the two years since Koizumi left.

The Yomiuri survey was a nationwide random telephone poll of 1,080 eligible voters. The newspaper provided no margin of error, but a survey of that number of random respondents would generally have a margin of plus or minus three percentage points.

The Nikkei poll was a similar survey of 788 voters and also provided no margin of error, but would generally have a margin of plus or minus 3.5 percent.

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