Nearly half of Japanese think PM Abe should quit over land sale scandal – poll

TOKYO (Reuters): Nearly half of Japanese voters believe Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should quit to take responsibility over a cronyism scandal and cover-up that has sent his support sliding, according to an opinion poll released on Monday.

Suspicions have arisen about a sale of state-owned land at a huge discount to a nationalist school operator with ties to Abe’s wife Akie, setting off the biggest political crisis Abe has faced since returning to power in 2012 and prompting protestors to call almost nightly for him to quit.

Abe has denied that either he or his wife intervened in the sale or were involved in altering documents related to the deal, in which mention of his and his wife’s names were removed.

According to a public opinion survey covered by the liberal Asahi newspaper over the weekend, 48% of those polled said Abe and his government should quit, compared to 39% who said that it was not necessary.Those who said they supported Abe slid to 32.6%, down 11.7 percentage points from a month ago, while those who said they did not rose 13.2 percentage points to 54.9%. Asked why they supported him, the largest number – 37.8% - said  it was because his government “seems better than others,” a reflection of the fragmented opposition and voter memories of the rocky tenure of the rival Democratic Party of Japan, one part of the reason Abe has managed to stay in power as long as he has.