TOKYO - Japan's opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) kept its clear lead ahead of a December election, opinion polls showed on Monday, with the hawkish Japan Restoration Party (JRP) led by a nationalist ex-Tokyo governor placing second.
The Yomiuri daily poll showed that 25 percent of voters would opt for the LDP, which is calling for aggressive monetary steps to end deflation, well ahead of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan's (DPJ) 10 percent support.
Fourteen percent of voters planned to vote for the new Japan Restoration Party, led by 80-year-old Shintaro Ishihara and popular Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto.
Ishihara, the outspoken former Tokyo governor who sparked a territorial spat with China over a group of islets, was seen as more suitable to lead the government than the Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, according to Yomiuri's survey.
But LDP opposition leader Shinzo Abe kept his individual lead with 29 percent of voter support.
The election is expected to usher in a period of confusing coalition politics because of the emergence of new parties and because whoever wins will still lack a majority in parliament's upper house, which can block bills.
The election for parliament's powerful lower house is unlikely to fix a policy stalemate that has plagued Japan as it struggles with an ageing population, a declining manufacturing sector and the emerging power of China.
With many voters discontented with the Japanese politics, 37 percent of respondents to the Yomiuri poll said they were undecided how they would vote. Surveys by other media, the Asahi newspaper and Kyodo news agency, showed similar results.
The DPJ swept to power in 2009 ending more than a half a century of nearly non-stop LDP rule. But its support slumped over what voters saw as broken promises, a confused response to last year's tsunami and nuclear crisis, and Noda's unpopular policies such as a tax hike and the restart of nuclear reactors.
Following is a table based on media polls asking which party voters would choose in the proportional representation stage of the lower house election.
POLL DATE DPJ LDP RESTORATION
Asahi Nov 26 13 23 9
Yomiuri Nov 26 10 25 14
Kyodo Nov 25 8.4 18.7 10.3
Nikkei Nov 19 16 25 11
Asahi Nov 19 15 22 6
Mainichi Nov 19 11 17 10
Yomiuri Nov 18 13 26 8
Asahi Nov 17 16 23 4
Asahi Nov 13 12 29 5
Yomiuri Nov 5 10 25 12
Kyodo Nov 4 12.1 27.7 10.8
Nikkei Oct 29 11 27 13
Asahi Oct 22 13 36 3
Kyodo Oct 3 12.3 31.3 13.9
Yomiuri Oct 3 18 36 13
Asahi Oct 3 17 30 4
Nikkei Sept 28 14 35 12
Asahi Sept 11 15 23 5
Kyodo Sept 2 12.4 22.2 17.6
Yomiuri Aug 13 11 21 16
Mainichi Aug 13 14 21 N.A.
Kyodo Aug 12 14.3 23.5 10.7
Asahi Aug 6 13 23 N.A.
Yomiuri July 16 14 18 N.A.
Kyodo July 15 14.1 19.2 13.2
Asahi July 10 14 22 N.A.