More than 40% of respondents support Sanae Takaichi, leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, visiting the war-related Yasukuni Shrine if she becomes prime minister, an opinion poll by Jiji Press showed.
In the poll conducted from Oct. 10 through Monday, 41.2% of respondents backed her worshipping at the Shinto shrine, which enshrines Class-A war criminals from World War II among the war dead, while those who opposed it accounted for 21.8%. Those who said they were unsure made up 37.1%.
Takaichi has repeatedly visited the shrine, including during her tenure as a Cabinet member. But she is expected to forgo a visit to the shrine during its autumn festival set for Friday through Sunday amid concerns within her party that it would hurt Japan¡¯s relations with China and South Korea.
The poll found that 49.3% of LDP supporters favored her worshipping at the shrine, while 17.9% were against it. Of supporters of the Conservative Party of Japan, 90.9% upheld such a visit, and none objected to it.
Among Sanseito supporters, 75% were in favor of her visiting the shrine and 7.1% were against it. Supporters of the Democratic Party for the People who backed such a visit accounted for 54.5%.
Of supporters of Komeito, a former LDP ally that last week left the coalition, 31.3% favored her visit, while 34.4% opposed it.
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