The support rate for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet fell 6.0 percentage points from the previous month to 55.7 percent after the emergence of a scandal about a murky land deal involving a school operator with ties to him and his wife, a Kyodo News poll released Sunday showed.

The nationwide telephone survey conducted over the weekend found that 86.5 percent of respondents viewed the purchase of state-owned land in Osaka at a heavily discounted price by Moritomo Gakuen as inappropriate, while 6.6 percent said they view it as appropriate.

The land is being used to build an elementary school, with funds for the school allegedly raised using Abe's name. Abe's wife, Akie, was to serve as the school's honorary principal but resigned after questions were raised about the controversial land deal.