Just over half of the respondents to a Kyodo survey released Wednesday supported Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's trip this week to Yasukuni Shrine, but nearly the same number said the next leader should not go.
A total of 51.5 percent approved of Koizumi's visit to the shrine on the Aug. 15 anniversary of the end of the war, while 41.8 percent opposed it.
However, 44.9 percent were opposed to the next prime minister visiting the Shinto shrine and only 39.6 percent said Koizumi's successor should make a trip.
Kyodo conducted the telephone poll Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday of 1,001 randomly selected eligible voters.
The poll shows 60.4 percent of the respondents believed the Class-A war criminals enshrined at Yasukuni along with 2.5 million war dead should be separated from the shrine.
Of the supporters of Koizumi's visit, 56.6 percent said the decision to visit should not be altered by other countries' opinions on the issue, while 55.4 percent of the people who said they opposed the trip cited the negative effects the trip made on ties with China and South Korea as the reason.
Respondents also were asked about Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe's Yasukuni visits. The front-runner to succeed Koizumi in September made a secret visit to the shrine in April but has refused to confirm it or to promise to make public any future visits.