Public support for Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's Cabinet has plunged to 35.7 percent from 44.6 percent last month, with more than half - 50.5 percent - expressing disapproval for the first time since Noda took office in September, a Kyodo News poll said Sunday.
The Saturday-Sunday poll also said 52.9 percent oppose the Noda administration's controversial two-stage plan to double the consumption tax, but that 45.6 percent back it.
Nearly three quarters of the respondents, or 74.4 percent, said Noda's explanations about the plan, which would hike the sales tax from 5 percent to 8 percent in April 2014 and to 10 percent in October 2015, were "insufficient." (Japan Times)
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