Cabinet approval rating drops to 55%

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The approval rating for the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama dropped four percentage points to 55 percent in the latest Yomiuri Shimbun survey, while 51 percent of respondents opposed the government's decision not to resolve within the year the issue of relocating a U.S. airfield in Okinawa Prefecture.

Conducted on Friday and Saturday, the most recent poll found the Cabinet's disapproval rating to be 33 percent, up four percentage points from the previous survey, which was held Dec. 4-6.

The government officially announced Tuesday that it had postponed making a decision on where to relocate the functions of the U.S. Marine Corp's Futenma Air Station until next year. According to the survey, 51 percent of respondents said they did not support the government's decision, while 68 percent believed the decision would harm bilateral ties between Japan and the United States.

The decline in the Cabinet's approval rating appears to reflect public discontent over the delay in concluding the Futenma issue and concerns over the adverse impact on the Japan-U.S. relationship.

Asked where the functions of the Futenma airfield should be transferred, 35 percent said outside the country and 34 percent said Nago in the prefecture, the site agreed upon by the two governments in 2006. Fourteen percent said the airfield's functions should be relocated to another prefecture in this country.

Asked about Hatoyama making special arrangements for Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping to meet with the Emperor, sidestepping protocol that calls for such audiences to be requested at least one month in advance, 44 percent found it problematic and 47 percent did not.

Imperial Household Agency Grand Steward Shingo Haketa expressed concern regarding the meeting, saying that breaking with convention could lead to political exploitation of the Emperor. Haketa's remarks drew strong criticism from Ichiro Ozawa, secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, who said if Haketa truly opposed the meeting he should have first resigned and then made such statements.

Seventy-six percent of respondents thought Ozawa did not act properly in the case, while only 14 percent thought he did.

Regarding Hatoyama and the ongoing scandal involving his political funds, 81 percent of respondents did not think the prime minister had fulfilled his responsibility to explain the situation, down from 85 percent in the previous survey.

Forty percent of respondents said the prime minister should resign from his post if his secretary is indicted over the scandal, up from 37 percent in the previous survey, while 51 percent did not think he should have to do so, down from 54 percent in the last survey.

The DPJ's approval rating was 43 percent, up one percentage point from the previous survey, while the rating of the Liberal Democratic Party was down to 18 percent from 19 percent.

Sixty-four percent said they did not approve of the coalition government framework comprising the DPJ, the Social Democratic Party and People's New Party. That figure was up from 56 percent in the November survey, reflecting increasing discontent with the DPJ, which has been influenced by the SDP and PNP in deciding the Futenma issue.

The nationwide interview was conducted by telephone on 1,722 households with eligible voters, using a random-digit dialing method, of which 1,007, or 58 percent, gave valid responses.