Public support for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet has risen to 45.6 percent from mid-January's 43.4 percent, a Kyodo News survey showed Sunday, despite growing criticism of the government's response to a labor data scandal.

The weekend telephone poll also showed that less than 10 percent of respondents expected a decades-old territorial dispute with Russia, over islands off Hokkaido, to be resolved while Abe is in office, with nearly 90 percent believing otherwise.

The disapproval rate for Abe's Cabinet stood at 41.1 percent, down from 42.3 percent in the previous survey.