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Polls: Support for Japanese PM falls to 17 percent (AP, 5/30/10)

Public support for Japan’s embattled prime minister fell to 17 percent amid rising calls for his resignation over his broken campaign promise to move a U.S. military base off a southern island, polls showed Monday.

The dismal approval rating came a day after a small party opted to leave Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s three-party coalition in protest over his decision Friday to keep the U.S. base on Okinawa, weakening the alliance ahead of a July election.