Japan's Support for PM Aso Slides as Economy Struggles

Support for Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso has slid to 14 percent, a survey published on
Tuesday said, a level which could lead the ruling party to try to replace him before an election later this year.

The nationwide survey by the Asahi newspaper also showed that 42 percent of voters planned to vote for the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) against 22 percent who would opt for Aso's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

It was the latest sign that the LDP could be ousted in an election that must be held no later than October.

The DPJ has pledged to reduce bureaucratic control over policy, reduce social gaps and adopt a diplomatic stance more independent of Washington if it ends the LDP's more than five decades of nearly unbroken rule.

Yoshikazu Tsuno / AFP Newly appointed ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) president Taro Aso smiles as he sits on the chair of the president at the LDP headquarters in Tokyo on September 22, 2008. The 68-year-old former foreign minister easily won the party's leadership election, paving the way for him to succeed Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who stepped down three weeks ago. AFP PHOTO / POOL-Yoshikazu TSUNO

Support for Aso's cabinet had been hovering below 20 percent in recent months after a series of policy flip-flops and gaffes by the prime minister as he struggles with an economic slump that experts say could be the country's longest-ever recession.

"It is said that this is a once-in-a-century economic crisis but the LDP is also in a once-in-a century crisis," Asahi quoted an LDP lawmaker as saying of the latest support figures.

It was the worst rating for Aso since the LDP tapped him for the post last September in hopes he could lead them to victory in an election for parliament's lower house, and the worst for any Japanese premier since the 9 percent logged by Yoshiro Mori in February 2001, Asahi said. Mori resigned within months.

A survey by Kyodo news agency published on Monday put support for the cabinet at 18.1 percent, down 1.1 points from the previous month.

Aso has been pondering when to hold an election, possibly in May after the enactment of the state budget for 2009/10 from April 1, but analysts have said his sagging support rates would make calling an early poll tough.

Aso, 68, is Japan's third prime minister since the last general election in 2005. His two predecessors resigned after seeing their support slide in the face of a political stalemate born of a divided parliament, where an emboldened opposition controls the upper chamber and can delay bills and stymy policies.

Aso's woes have not been helped by the economy, which probably shrank 3.1 percent in the last three months of 2008, or an annualised 11.7 percent, a Reuters poll showed, as shock waves from the global financial crisis ripped through export-driven Japan.

Economics Minister Kaoru Yosano said on Sunday that Tokyo may need to consider spending more to support the economy besides an already planned stimulus programme.

But Japanese government debt is running at about 150 percent of gross domestic product, while parliament is now debating the government's 88.5 trillion yen ($967.4 billion) budget for the fiscal year starting in April, the nation's biggest ever.

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