Japan polls show strong lead for opposition party

Fifty-six percent of voters said wanted the opposition Democratic Party of Japan to take power, with just 23 percent supporting Prime Minister Taro Aso's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, according to the poll published in the Mainichi newspaper.

In a poll by the Asahi newspaper, 49 percent wanted a new government led by the Democrats and only 22 percent supported Aso's party to stay in power.

The Liberal Democrats have ruled Japan for virtually all of the past 50 years.

After a string of losses by his party in local and special elections, Aso last week said he would call the national vote for Aug. 30, the first such parliamentary election for the powerful lower house since 2005. He is widely expected to dissolve the chamber on Tuesday.

The Democrats favor a more independent stance from the U.S., smaller government and more international peacekeeping missions for Japan's military.

The results of the Mainichi and Asahi polls, taken over the weekend, both showed support for the current Cabinet at just 17 percent, while disapproval stood just below 70 percent.

A poll by the Kyodo News agency published Sunday showed that 36 percent of voters plan to cast their party ballot for the Democrats, with 16 percent to vote for the ruling party. Some 35 percent were still undecided. Under the Japanese system, voters cast a ballot for the party and another for a district representative.

The leader of the party that wins the parliamentary election is almost certain to become prime minister. The Liberal Democrats currently have 303 seats in the powerful 480-seat lower house, and their coalition partner Komeito has 31. The Democratic Party has just 112.

All polls were random telephone surveys taken of eligible voters nationwide. The Mainichi poll had 1,045 respondents, while the Asahi poll had 1,064 and the Kyodo poll had 1,243. None provided a margin of error, but for surveys of that size, they would have a margin of error of about 3 percent.

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