Election: a majority of voters against LDP

(The Japanese Parliament in Tokyo, Nagata-cho)

This is the story that the Mainichi (center, center-left) writes today. Over half of the public want the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) to win the upcoming House of Representatives race, while fewer than one in four hope to see the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) as the winner, a Mainichi poll suggests. The Mainichi Shimbun surveyed 1,045 people aged 20 or over from 1,579 households randomly selected across the country over the weekend. The response rate was 66 percent. Of the "pollees", 56 percent responded that they want the DPJ to win the general election, up 3 points from the previous poll conducted on June 13 and 14.

Only 23 percent answered they want to see the LDP to win the race, a decrease of 4 points from the previous survey. The approval rating for the DPJ hit a record high of 36 percent, 2 points more than the previous poll, while that for the LDP posted a 2 point decrease to 18 percent, the lowest figure since Prime Minister Taro Aso took office last September. The results show that DPJ support has gained momentum across the country since its victory in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election on July 12.

Article of the Mainichi http://tinyurl.com/klcpdu