TOKYO (AFP) — Almost half of Japanese voters now support the main opposition Democratic Party, according to a new poll Sunday that appears to confirm disenchantment with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's government.
Some 46 percent of those questioned for the survey in the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper said that they wanted the Democratic Party to win the next general elections.
It indicates lingering public anger at the ruling Liberal Democratic Party amid widening scandals over mismanagement of state pensions and corruption at the defence ministry, the paper said.
Fukuda's ruling LDP won support from only 33 percent of those polled.
Public support for the Democratic Party has grown since July when it won a landslide victory in upper house elections, a victory that eventually led to the resignation of then-premier Shinzo Abe.
Recent polls suggest that support for Fukuda has also fallen sharply since he succeeded Abe in September, falling to around 30 percent.
The lower house of parliament has a mandate until September next year, but most analysts speculate it will be dissolved later this year.
The Mainichi survey used data from 1,528 adults and was taken mid-December.
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