TOKYO, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- The approval rate for Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's cabinet dropped to 32.1 percent after the general election, down from 50.7 percent prior to the vote, a Kyodo News survey showed.
The survey, conducted via telephone over two days from Monday, showed that 53 percent of respondents do not want the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition partner Komeito to remain in power following their election setback, while 38.4 percent favor the coalition's continued governance.
The LDP has been struggling to regain public trust after the party's slush fund scandal. In the survey, 79.2 percent of respondents opposed assigning key roles to scandal-tainted members elected in the recent House of Representatives election, with only 16.3 percent in support.
When asked about their preferred government, 31.5 percent favored a realignment creating a new political structure, followed by 24.6 percent who supported a government led by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ) and other opposition parties.
An LDP-Komeito minority government had the least support, at just 18.1 percent.
On the question of Ishiba's future, 28.6 percent suggested he should step down due to the coalition's lost majority, while 65.7 percent found his resignation unnecessary. A significant 91.4 percent believed the slush fund scandal contributed to the LDP's seat losses.
Party support rates also shifted. The LDP's support dropped from 42.3 percent in early October to 31.8 percent, while the CDPJ gained, rising from 11.7 percent to 20.3 percent.
The survey, conducted nationwide, reached 511 households and 3,382 mobile numbers, garnering responses from 427 household members and 636 mobile phone users.
Japan's political landscape has entered a period of heightened uncertainty following the Oct. 27 general election, which saw the ruling coalition lose its long-held majority and left no party with a clear mandate to navigate economic challenges that the country is currently facing.
As mandated by the constitution, the Diet must convene a special session within 30 days of the election date, in which the current cabinet led by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will collectively resign and newly elected members of the Diet will nominate the next prime minister. ■