Mainichi poll: 60% in favour of gov't no nuke policy

September  17, 2012

60 percent support gov't policy of seeking to eliminate nuclear power: Mainichi poll

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20120917p2a00m0na011000c.html

A majority of the public, some 60 percent, support the government's policy of seeking to eliminate all nuclear power stations by the 2030s, far above the 36 percent who do not, a recent Mainichi poll shows.

By gender, 54 percent of men and 64 percent of women said they are in favor of the zero nuclear power policy.

By party affiliation, supporters of the largest opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) are almost evenly divided between those who support the non-atomic power policy and those who are against the policy, 46 percent and 48 percent, respectively. The majority of those who back other parties are in favor of the zero atomic power policy.

Most members of the public, 73 percent, appreciate the government's recent purchase of three of the Senkaku Islands in Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture, which are also claimed by China, from their Japanese landowner. The ratio is far above the 22 percent that said they do not support the move.

About half, 51 percent, said the leaders of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and the LDP should maintain their agreement with New Komeito on the integrated reform of the tax and social security systems, centering on an increase in the consumption tax rate from the current 5 percent to 8 percent, and then to 10 percent.

The figure is above the 38 percent who said the heads of the two major parties no longer have to respect the three-party accord.

Seventy-one percent of DPJ supporters and 60 percent of LDP supporters said the party leaders should maintain the agreement. Those who support Nippon Ishin-no-kai (Japan Restoration Party), a new party to be launched by Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, were almost equally divided over the issue, with 47 percent saying the DPJ and LDP leaders should respect the three-party agreement and 48 percent replying that the party leaders should no longer be bound by the accord.