TOKYO - JAPANESE Prime Minister Taro Aso shrugged off surveys showing support for his new government fell short of 50 per cent, a level that could bode ill for efforts to parlay his own popularity into a ruling bloc election win.

An outspoken nationalist who favours spending and tax cuts to boost Japan's faltering economy, Mr Aso took office on Wednesday and has been widely expected to call a snap election to take advantage of a hoped-for bounce in public opinion polls.

But support for his new cabinet ranged from 45 per cent in a survey by the mainstream Mainichi newspaper to 53 per cent in a poll by the Nikkei business daily, ratings lower than his bland predecessor Yasuo Fukuda enjoyed when he first took the job.

Mr Aso, in New York where he addressed the United Nations General Assembly, said he wasn't bothered by the survey results.

'I'm not interested in whatever is said just based on appearance,' said Mr Aso.

'I'm not interested in support ratings,' he told reporters.

Mr Fukuda's ratings had dropped to between 20 per cent to 30 per cent right before he quit abruptly, felled by a political stalemate due to a divided parliament where the opposition controls the upper house.

Mr Aso himself, who has cultivated an image as a 'cool old dude' in touch with Japan's manga-loving youth, rated about twice as high as main opposition Democratic Party leader Ichiro Ozawa when voters were asked who was best-suited to be Japan's premier.

Mr Ozawa, a former LDP heavyweight who is a skilled election strategist but has an image as an old-style politician, is pitching policies to shrink income gaps and reduce bureaucrats' clout over decision-making, but has come under criticism for failing to spell out how he will fund his proposals.

Ratings peak, early poll?
In a sign that Mr Aso's popularity might not translate into votes for his party, the surveys showed his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) with a much smaller lead or even neck-and-neck when voters were asked for which party they would cast their ballots.

A survey by the conservative Yomiuri newspaper showed 37 per cent would vote for the LDP against 30 per cent for the Democrats, while the Nikkei's survey showed 36 per cent would vote for the LDP against 33 per cent for the main opposition party.

Analysts and domestic media said Mr Aso would probably still call a November election for parliament's powerful lower house, since a vote must be held by next September and the Japanese leader's ratings are more likely to sag than to rise.

'It's hard to say. I think he might have a view of himself that if he takes more time, the ratings might go up,' said Mr Koichi Nakano, a professor at Tokyo's Sophia University.

'But ordinarily, while it's not spectacular, it's better than the point at which Fukuda left and if he has any judgment he will probably understand that its the highest he will get and over time his government will become less popular,' Mr Nakano said.

One risk to postponing the election, which media have tipped for Nov 2 or Nov 9, is that the outspoken Mr Aso or one of his cabinet ministers might make verbal gaffes that offend voters.

Japan's top government spokesman, Takeo Kawamura, warned ministers to watch what they say after new Land Minister Nariaki Nakayama had to withdraw a remark that Japan was 'ethnically homogeneous", a comment that has in the past drawn protests from Japan's Ainu indigenous people.

Also on Friday, Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said his support group planned to return a contribution from the president of a firm that had been banned from bidding for government contracts, although he told a news conference his support group itself had done nothing wrong. -- REUTERS