Sixty percent of Japanese support Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's decision to participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun survey.

However, 62 percent of respondents said rice and some agricultural products should be excluded from tariff elimination if the nation joins the TPP talks, it said.

The survey, conducted from Friday through Sunday, covered 1,700 households with eligible voters using a random telephone dialing method. A total of 1,053 people, or 62 percent, gave valid responses.

The approval rating of the Abe Cabinet rose to 72 percent, up one percentage point from the previous survey conducted from Feb. 8 to 10, it said.

It is rare for a cabinet's approval rating to rise for the third consecutive month since its launch. The Cabinet of Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu, which was launched in 1989, is the only previous example, according to past surveys conducted by The Yomiuri Shimbun.

The continuing high approval rating of the Abe Cabinet indicates the government has won wide public support for the prime minister's Abenomics economic policy, observers said.

The government's policy to boost economic growth through strengthened ties with the Bank of Japan won the backing of 69 percent of respondents.

Fifty-six percent supported the appointment of Haruhiko Kuroda, president of the Asian Development Bank, as Bank of Japan governor.

On measures to redress vote-value disparities in some constituencies in House of Representatives elections, which courts have ruled as unconstitutional, 72 percent said the current electoral system should be radically reformed.

On this issue, 15 percent supported the scrapping of five single-seat constituencies to reduce the number of lower house seats by five.

Asked which parties they support, 45 percent said they backed the Liberal Democratic Party, up from 42 percent in the previous survey.

The Democratic Party of Japan was favored by 5 percent, down from 6 percent, followed by New Komeito at 4 percent, up from 2 percent and Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) at 2 percent, down from 5 percent.

To a question on which party they would vote for in the proportional representation section of the House of Councillors election, 43 percent chose the LDP, up from 42 percent in the previous survey, followed by Nippon Ishin no Kai at 9 percent (down from 13 percent) and the DPJ at 7 percent (unchanged).

Fifty-four percent of respondents said they wanted the LDP and Komeito to obtain a majority of seats in the upper house election in summer, up from 52 percent.

March 18, 2013

Source: Yomiuri Shimbun

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