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Support rate for Mori low at 20 percent |
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September 27, 2000
TOKYO (AP) - Public support for Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's Cabinet remains low at 20 percent, a newspaper poll published Tuesday shows. Support for Mori's administration edged up 1 percent from the 19 percent registered in the previous poll in July, the Mainichi newspaper said, giving no reason for the marginal improvement. The random telephone survey of 1,051 eligible voters from across Japan was conducted Sept. 22-23. The daily did not offer any margin of error. Pubic distrust of Mori's government has remained above a majority of respondents in each of its past four monthly polls, the Mainichi said. Mori took office in early April. Polls by various other newspapers also show his popularity has remained the lowest for a prime minister in decades. In the latest survey, 54 percent said they did not support the Cabinet, somewhat better than the 60 percent who said so in July. In the latest poll, many cited a lack of leadership as a reason for not supporting the administration. Public distrust of Mori's administration remains high, partly because of a series of controversial remarks he made earlier this year, including calling Japan a "divine nation." Mori also is involved in a court case over a magazine report that he was caught in a brothel while he was a college student. He has denied the allegations sued the magazine. Last week, top policy makers agreed on a new government spending package of about an extra 4 trillion yen (dlrs 37.4 billion) to help bring Japan's economy into a full recovery from its worst slowdown since World War II. In the poll, 33 percent of the respondents said they most expect the Mori Cabinet to deliver on economic polices, followed by welfare policy and political and education reforms. |