Japanese Postal privatisation backed by 38 percent

Only 38 percent of people surveyed support a Cabinet blueprint for the privatisation of the state-run postal services, while 81 percent want the government to direct its efforts elsewhere, according to a nationwide survey conducted Sept. 11 and 12 by The Yomiuri Shimbun.

Meanwhile, 25 percent of respondents said they opposed a blueprint to privatise the three postal services adopted by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s Cabinet on Sept. 10.

Those in support of the plan have decreased by 17 percentage points since a similar survey was conducted in August 2001. People opposing the scheme grew by one percentage point during the same period.

Of the 3,000 eligible voters selected at random for the survey, 1,890 agreed to be interviewed. Among respondents, those who said they were “undecided” about the plan of action increased by 15 percentage points to 34 percent since the 2001 poll, suggesting the lack of available details on the plan is creating public confusion.

More than 81 percent of those asked said they thought there were more important issues than privatisation of the state-run postal service, highlighting the gap between the cornerstone of the reform policy of the Koizumi Cabinet and the will of the public at large.

When broken down by party affiliation, the strongest support for the privatisation blueprint came from those who supported the Liberal Democratic Party. Forty-five percent of such respondents said they supported the plans, and only 21 percent said they disapproved of the scheme–the lowest among respondents of any party affiliation.

Among the 81 percent of respondents who hoped the government would redirect its efforts, 68 percent said the Koizumi Cabinet should work more on economic stimulus measures, 63 percent said more effort should be put into social welfare reforms, such as those of the national pension schemes, and 38 percent said employment policy needed serious work.

Among participants in the poll, 42 percent said they believed Japan Post would be more efficient if privatised while twenty-nine percent thought the opposite.

As for whether postal services would improve if privatised, 60 percent said they expected services to get better, while 22 percent expected they would get worse.