Support rate for Abe's cabinet down 6.8%

TOKYO - Support rate for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet declined by 6.8 percent to 48.1 percent from the previous poll conducted in early September, according to a latest survey released Sunday.

The decline on approval rate followed Trade Minister Yuko Obuchi's irregular use of political funds and the 40-year-old minister reportedly has intention to resign from the post.

The telephone poll that was conducted by Japan's Kyodo News through the weekend said that about 65.9 percent respondents were against the government's plan of further raising consumption tax from current 8 percent to 10 percent in October next year.

About 31.0 percent were in favor of the second round of sales tax hike decision. Japan carried out its first sales tax hike in 17 years this April in a move to increase the government revenue as financial health of the world's third largest economy is the worst among major industrialized countries.

However, the latest poll also said that about 84.8 percent of respondents said they did not feel the Japanese economy has recovered.

On the issue that whether or not Japan should restore its nuclear power plants, about 60.2 percent said they are against to have the reactors resumed operation, while 31.9 percent showed their favor.

All nuclear reactors for power plants are offline in Japan since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant crisis in 2011 and the country now largely depends on fossil energy imports to meet domestic needs.