The support rate for Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's Cabinet rose to slightly better than 50 percent following the appointment of Naoto Kan as finance minister, a Kyodo News survey showed Monday.
But a majority of the 1,031 people who responded to a nationwide telephone survey conducted Sunday and Monday said Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa has not fulfilled his responsibility to explain a money scandal.
The support rate for the Cabinet came to 50.8 percent, up 3.6 percentage points from the previous survey in late December. The Cabinet's disapproval rate stood at 33.2 percent.
Fifty-nine percent of the respondents have high or moderate expectations for Kan, compared with 35.2 percent who aren't expecting much from the new finance minister.
Kan, who is also deputy prime minister, replaced Hirohisa Fujii, whose resignation for health reasons was officially approved by the government Thursday.
Slightly more than 67 percent of the respondents said Fujii's resignation will have a negative impact on Hatoyama's management of the government.
Fujii, who was in charge of drafting the fiscal 2010 budget, stepped down before it will be deliberated in the Diet during the session scheduled to start next Monday.