Disapproval of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet exceeded its support rating in a Kyodo News poll for the first time since he returned to power in December 2012, and just weeks before the House of Representatives election, the latest data showed Saturday.
In the poll conducted Friday and Saturday, 47.3 percent of respondents expressed disapproval against 43.6 percent who backed the Abe Cabinet.
Yet when asked how they intended to vote in the Dec. 14 general election, 28.0 percent said they would still support Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party in the proportional representation bloc, up 2.7 percentage points from the previous poll carried out from Nov. 19 to 20.