Support for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government has fallen, hit by political funds scandals and concerns about his leadership ability, two newspaper polls published yesterday showed.
The Mainichi Shimbun said 40 percent of the 1,044 respondents to its Jan. 27 to Jan. 28 poll supported the Cabinet, down 6 percentage point from the previous poll last month. Those who disapproved rose to 36 percent from 30 percent.
The newspaper attributed the drop to the resignation of Cabinet ministers and their murky use of political funds.
Separately, the business Nikkei Shimbun said support ratings for Abe fell to 48 percent in the Jan. 26 to Jan. 28 survey of 906 voters, down 3 percentage points from its poll last month. Those who disapproved of the Abe government rose 1 point to 41 percent.
The Nikkei said the drop partly reflected voter disappointment over Abe's failure to show his strong leadership.
In his policy-setting speech Friday, Abe said Japan must overhaul its pacifist Constitution, beef up its international security role and free itself of World War II's political remnants.
"We take the poll results seriously," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki told reporters yesterday. "But we will make steady effort to achieve our policies."
Abe has been hit by scandals involving political funds and misstatements by his Cabinet ministers. Opposition leaders said they plan to question Abe over the scandals.
Two ministers were forced to resign in recent weeks over misuse of political funds. Several other Cabinet ministers were also implicated in similar scandals.
In the latest embarrassment for Abe, Health Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa drew criticism after calling women "birth-giving machines" in a speech on the falling birthrate on Saturday.
Opposition leaders said they would demand his resignation during the parliamentary debate.
Abe was grilled in parliament by the main opposition, which said that the prime minister had responsibility for Yanagisawa's gaffe.
"If the remarks are true, they are unforgivable, not as a politician but as a human being," main opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa said in a parliamentary debate.
"I also regard them as inappropriate. I firmly told the minister to be careful so that there are no misunderstandings in the future," Abe said.
But he stopped short of mentioning punitive measures such as the minister's dismissal. Chief government spokesman Yasuhisa Shiozaki earlier said that Yanagisawa had "corrected" his remarks.
Yanagisawa apologized for his weekend remarks.
"Because the number of child-bearing machines and devices is fixed, all we can ask is they do their best per capita," Yanagisawa said.
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