Support for Japan PM Abe's government slips -poll

TOKYO, Dec 25 (Reuters) Support for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government has continued to slide, a public opinion poll by the Nihon Keizai business daily found today, in line with surveys by other media in recent weeks.

The telephone poll of 947 voters across the country, conducted from December 22-24, showed support for the cabinet at 51 percent, down 8 points from a poll at the end of November.

Support was 71 percent when Abe's term began in September.

The newspaper attributed the decline partly to Abe's decision to welcome back to his ruling party 11 lawmakers who were expelled last year for opposing privatisation of Japan's postal system, the pet project of his predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi.

Koizumi expelled the lawmakers for voting against his postal bills and then called a snap election, making the issue the key focus of a lower house poll held in September last year.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won the election by a landslide, confirming popular support for postal privatisation.

But earlier this month the LDP let the so-called postal rebels return after Abe made them submit written pledges to back privatisation and never again to defy the party.

Abe came under attack from critics saying the move was aimed at winning seats in next year's upper house election and that it ignored the results of last year's snap vote.

The Nihon Keizai said Abe's popularity also took a hit from a scandal engulfing his point man on tax reform, who resigned last week after reports that he was living with a lover in an upscale apartment subsidised with taxpayers' money.

The departure of Tax Commission Chairman Masaaki Homma, a married economics professor, was an embarrassment for Abe, who has been urging a return to traditional values.

Reuters MQA DB0822