TOKYO – A new poll showed Monday that more than 80 percent of
Japanese voters do not trust government information about the country's
nuclear crisis.
The poll conducted by Fuji
Television Network also found that nearly 85 percent of respondents
said the utility that operates the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear
plant is dealing with the crisis poorly.
An
earthquake and tsunami on March 11 damaged crucial cooling systems at
the plant, causing the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl. The twin
disasters also left more than 24,000 people dead or missing in
northeastern Japan.
Eighty-one percent of
respondents to the survey said they did not trust government
information about the crisis, Fuji TV said. Seventy-eight percent said
Prime Minister Naoto Kan lacked leadership in handling the disasters.
Kan
is facing calls for his resignation even within his own ruling party.
Opposition parties are expected to submit a no-confidence motion
against him as early as Thursday.
Kan is likely
to survive the motion because his Democratic Party of Japan controls
the powerful lower house of parliament. However, some ruling party
lawmakers may support the motion to pressure Kan to quit, local media
say.
The national poll of eligible voters was
conducted by telephone on May 28-29 and had 1,000 responses. No margin
of error was given, but a poll of that size would normally have a
margin of error of about 4 percentage points. AP
