Japan voters split over whether PM should go-polls

TOKYO, Aug 1 (Reuters) Japanese voters are divided over whether Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should quit following a crushing election defeat, but almost two-thirds say they do not support him, polls showed today.

Abe has vowed to stay in office despite his ruling camp's loss of its majority in parliament's upper house election on Sunday. The drubbing was sparked by anger over the government's mishandling of public pension premiums and a series of scandals and gaffes involving cabinet ministers.

About 47 per cent of respondents to a poll in the daily Asahi newspaper said Abe should step down, compared with 40 per cent who wanted him to stay in office. The Yomiuri newspaper found voters more evenly divided, with 44 per cent supporting the prime minister's decision to stay on, while 45 per cent did not.

Only 26 per cent of respondents to the Asahi survey said they supported Abe -- the lowest since he took office in September.

The Yomiuri poll put support for Abe at 32 per cent, while the Nikkei financial daily put the figure at 28 per cent. Almost two-thirds of respondents to polls in all three polls said they did not support him.

More than half the respondents to the Asahi poll said there was no need to call a snap election in the more powerful lower house, where the ruling coalition led by Abe's Liberal Democratic Party has a large majority. But 39 per cent said they wanted to see a general election as soon as possible.

Support for the Democratic Party, which won the most seats in the upper house, was higher than for the LDP, but polls suggested the backing was somewhat half-hearted.

More than 80 per cent of respondents to the Asahi poll said the Democrats had performed strongly because of problems in the ruling coalition. Only 9 percent said the outcome was the result of high expectations for Democratic policies, the paper said.

All three polls were conducted by telephone on Monday and Tuesday.

Reuters SAM VP0647