Japanese voters 'ambivalent' as ever

[dArKeR]

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi should be happy: with national elections just a couple weeks away, two polls out yesterday showed an overwhelming number of voters still want him to lead the nation. But they also contained ominous news - most voters don't support his party.

In a poll in yesterday's Asahi Shimbun, a major daily, 56 percent of the respondents said Koizumi is the best person to be prime minister.

But only 34 percent said they would vote for a candidate from his Liberal Democratic Party in elections for Parliament's lower house on November 9.

That was higher than the 19 percent who said they would cast a ballot for the main opposition party, the Democrats, but below the top category - the 40 percent who said they don't support the LDP or anyone else.

http://www.etaiwannews.com/Asia/2003/10/25/1067047405.htm