Support for Japan PM stays high, finding funds hard

TOKYO, Oct 19 - Support for Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama remains high at over 70 percent, newspaper polls showed on Monday, as his Democratic Party faces the challenge of funding key campaign pledges a month after taking power.

In a survey by the Nikkei business daily, 73 percent of respondents said they support Hatoyama's cabinet, down 2 points from the last survey in September. A Mainichi newspaper poll also showed support at 72 percent, down 5 points from last month.

The polls come as Hatoyama tackles the tough task of funding ambitious spending programmes -- when tax revenues are falling -- without raising fears about further inflating Japan's already huge public debt, the biggest among advanced nations.

Asked what policy issues they would like the government to prioritise, 64 percent of the respondents in the Nikkei survey said cutting wasteful spending.

The Democrats came into power pledging to reduce waste and focus spending on consumers. The cabinet has already found 2.9 trillion yen ($31.9 billion) in what it considers wasteful spending in an extra budget compiled by the last government.

But the ministers' funding requests last week for the next fiscal year's national budget reached a record high of 95.04 trillion yen, sparking concerns about increasing a public debt already at nearly 200 percent of GDP.

The minister in charge of cutting wasteful spending from national budgets said on Sunday he would aim to keep the budget at 92 trillion yen and limit government bond issuance in the 2010/11 fiscal year, which will start from April 1, to below the 44.1 trillion yen earmarked for the current fiscal year.

($1=90.87 yen)