Photo/Illutration A man holds a sign that expresses opposition to the revision to the Public Prosecutors Office Law in front of the Diet building in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward on May 15. (Kotaro Ebara)

A new poll suggests a majority of the public opposes the government's move to revise the Public Prosecutors Office Law to extend the legal retirement age of top public prosecutors based on its own judgment.

Only 15 percent said they support the bill that would revise the law, while 64 percent said they are against it, according to a telephone survey conducted by The Asahi Shimbun on May 16 and 17.

The poll suggests nearly half the government’s own supporters oppose the revision as well.

Among those who support the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, 48 percent said they oppose the bill, while 27 percent support it.

The approval rating for the administration stands at 33 percent, a drop from the 41 percent recorded in an April survey conducted by The Asahi Shimbun.

The disapproval rating rose to 47 percent from the April survey’s 41 percent.

The 33 percent approval rating in the most recent survey is the second lowest for Abe during his current stretch of time in power.

The lowest approval rating the Abe administration has seen, since the start of the second Abe government in 2012, was 31 percent in 2018, according to surveys done by The Asahi Shimbun in March and April that year. Abe was then in the midst of scandals involving Moritomo Gakuen and Kake Educational Institution.

The revision to the law has been discussed in the Lower House, and the government initially aimed to enact the bill by the end of current Diet session, but public opinion has quickly turned against it over the matter.

Only 5 percent of respondents said the legislation should be hurried, while 80 percent said the government should not rush to pass the bill.

Among those who support the bill, 18 percent said the government should rush to pass the bill, while 68 percent said it should not.

Critics have raised concerns the bill would invite political intervention into the affairs of prosecutors.

“That is not a possibility,” Abe insisted at a Diet session.

But only 16 percent of the respondents said they “trusted” Abe’s words on the issue, while 68 percent said his words were “not trustable.”

For the latest survey, respondents were contacted through home phone or mobile numbers selected at random by a computer.

Of the 978 households with eligible voters contacted via landlines, 604 responded. The response rate was 62 percent.

Among mobile phone users, 581 of the 1,032 eligible voters gave valid responses. The response rate was 56 percent.

A total of 1,185 people responded to the survey.

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