According to a March 26 and 27 Kyodo News poll, the approval rating of the Kan administration rose 8.4 percentage points from mid-February to 28.3 percent, and 57.9 percent of the polled approved of the way his Cabinet deals with the victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
But Prime Minister Naoto Kan cannot be content with his performance. The poll shows that 63.7 percent think he is not exercising sufficient leadership and that 58.2 percent do not approve of the way the government handles the nuclear crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Some of his behavior after March 11 has cast doubt on his reliability as a leader. For example, on the morning of March 12, he flew to the power plant aboard a helicopter. Mr. Haruki Madarame, head of the Nuclear Safety Commission, who accompanied him, said Mr. Kan went there because "he wanted to learn a bit about nuclear power."