Japanese Premier Miyazawa’s Public Support Plummets in Poll

In the midst of a feud in the scandal-tainted faction of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party that has provided his major support, Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa suffered a disastrous plunge in public support, the Yomiuri newspaper reported today.

Support for the 73-year-old prime minister plummeted 10.5 points from a month ago to reach a new low of 23.1%, Japan’s largest newspaper reported. Last November, when he took office, Miyazawa had the support of 55.7% of the respondents in a Yomiuri poll.

Miyazawa’s backing from supporters of the ruling party, the Yomiuri reported, plunged even more severely than among the general public, falling 14.4 points.

Opposition to Miyazawa, meanwhile, soared 14.8 points to 65.6%, the highest in the poll since the eve of former Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita’s resignation in April, 1989, in the Recruit stocks-for-favors scandal, the paper added.

The poll results were disclosed after supporters of Ichiro Ozawa, 50, announced Wednesday that they would establish a “study group” within the powerful ruling-party “Takeshita faction” to protest the selection of Keizo Obuchi, 55, as the faction’s new chairman.

Thirty-six of the faction’s 109 members signed up to join the “study group.”

Ozawa is a protege of disgraced ruling party kingpin Shin Kanemaru, 78, who quit politics after admitting he accepted an illegal $4.1-million political contribution. Action by prosecutors allowing Kanemaru to pay a nominal fine and forgo questioning and a formal trial enraged much of the public, contributing to the drop in support for Miyazawa.