People opposing the dispatch of Self-Defense Force troops to Iraq for humanitarian operations outnumbered those supporting it in a Kyodo News opinion poll taken over the weekend.
The news agency said Sunday that of 1,084 randomly selected eligible voters who responded to the telephone poll, 51.6 percent said they oppose the SDF dispatch, while 42.8 percent expressed support and the remaining 5.6 percent either said they did not know or did not give an answer to the question.
The poll was taken just as an advance team of Ground Self-Defense Force personnel arrived in Kuwait to begin preparations for the scheduled dispatch of the main contingent of GSDF troops, which will provide water supply and medical aid in the southern Iraq city of Samawah.