Japan PM support down to 36 percent amid base woes: poll

TOKYO (Reuters) - Only about one-third of Japanese voters support Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's government, and about the same percentage plans to vote for the main opposition party in a key mid-year poll, a survey showed on Sunday.

Doubts about Hatoyama's leadership, including his ability to resolve a feud with Washington over a U.S. Marine airbase and funding scandals have eroded his support and now appear to be eating away at that for his party as well.

Hatoyama this weekend reiterated he would keep his pledge to solve a feud over where to relocate a U.S. airbase on the southern island of Okinawa by the self-imposed deadline of end-May, but hinted that he might step down if he could not.

Support for Hatoyama's government has slipped 5.1 points from February to 36.3 percent, a public opinion poll by Kyodo News Agency showed.

Asked which party they plan to vote for in an upper house election expected in July, 26.9 percent of the respondents said the ruling Democrats, while 26.3 percent preferred the opposition Liberal Democratic Party.

The Democrats swept to power six months ago, winning 308 seats in the 480-seat lower house of parliament against the LDP's 119. Opinion polls had the Democrats with approval ratings around 70 percent.

The party needs to win a majority in the upper house election to avoid policy paralysis as Japan strives to keep a fragile recovery on track and rein in its massive public debt."

Hatoyama, asked whether he is ready to step down if he cannot settle the base row by the deadline, told reporters on Saturday: "I am strongly resolved to realize each policy. That is obvious."

Some Japanese media interpreted the premier's remark as meaning he might step down if he could not keep his pledge.

During the lower house election campaign last year that led the Democrats to power, Hatoyama had raised hopes in Okinawa that the Marines' Futenma airbase could be moved off of the island, host to the bulk of 47,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan.

But Washington wants to stick to a 2006 deal to shift the facility to a less crowded spot on Okinawa.

Settling the feud with the United States before the end of May is turning into a pressing test for Hatoyama ahead of the mid-year poll, and a senior executive of the LDP called for the prime minister to quit if he cannot keep his promise.

"If the trust between Japan and the United States breaks down, there is a possibility that it would have economic impact," LDP's Secretary-General Tadamori Oshima said on Sunday.

"Mr. Hatoyama, if you cannot resolve this by the end of May, you should resign."

Adding to Hatoyama's woes is voter frustration over a scandal ensnaring his party's No.2 executive, Ichiro Ozawa, in which three of Ozawa's current and former aides have been charged for misreporting political funds.

Nearly three quarters of the respondents in the Kyodo poll said they want Ozawa to step down from the ruling party's Secretary-General post.

Ozawa, seen as the real power behind the government and a master of election campaigning, has said he was cleared of any wrongdoing when prosecutors decided not to indict him.

Democratic Party elder Kozo Watanabe told Reuters on Friday that the party would be best served if Ozawa voluntarily resigned over the funding scandal.

Watanabe also said that Hatoyama might have to step down if he failed to settle the base feud by the self-imposed deadline, but added he believed the problem would be solved.