A Kyodo News survey said Sunday 48.1 percent of the public opposes allowing the government to legally exercise Japan's right to collective self-defense and 39 percent support it.

It also found that 51.3 percent of those polled oppose Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plan to make that happen by reinterpreting the pacifist Constitution, in lieu of amending it, while 34.5 percent support the bid.

The telephone survey of 1,449 households with eligible voters drew 1,021 responses.