Fifty-one percent of the public supports constitutional revision, while 46 percent does not, according to a nationwide Yomiuri Shimbun survey from mid-March to mid-April on the nation's top law.
In the previous survey conducted in March and April last year, those for and against constitutional amendment were even at 49 percent each. The latest survey is the first time in three years since the 2015 survey -- when 51 percent supported amendment and 46 percent did not -- that the percentage of people who support revision exceeded those who do not.
The latest mail-in survey was carried out from March 13 to April 18 on 3,000 eligible voters across the country, with 1,936 valid answers, or 65 percent of the total.
A series of scandals involving school operators Moritomo Gakuen and Kake Educational Institution emerged during the survey period, causing a decline in the approval rating for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet. However, these issues did not seem to have had a large impact on support and opposition to constitutional revision.
Of four items to be included in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's proposal on constitutional revision, 55 percent supported the inclusion of a provision that stipulates the existence of the Self-Defense Forces while retaining paragraphs of the Constitution's Article 9. A total of 42 percent opposed this idea.
Abe has called for sweeping away arguments against the constitutionality of the SDF, as a reason for the amendment.
Seventy-six percent of respondents said the SDF's existence was constitutional, while 19 percent said it was unconstitutional.
The proportion of respondents who support the stipulation of the SDF in the Constitution was 57 percent among those who see the SDF's existence as constitutional, and 52 percent among those who see it as unconstitutional.
Asked about when the Diet should initiate amendment of the Constitution, 11 percent said within 2018, 16 percent said before the House of Councillors election in 2019, 22 percent said by 2020 and 21 percent said sometime from 2021 on. Twenty percent said it is not necessary to initiate amendment.
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