TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The approval rating for Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's Cabinet plunged to 27.6 percent, the lowest since he took office in October, following revelations that he handed out gift vouchers to rookie ruling party lawmakers, a Kyodo News survey showed Sunday.

The weekend telephone poll also found that 71.6 percent of respondents opposed Ishiba's distribution of cash-equivalent coupons worth 100,000 yen ($670) each to such lawmakers of his Liberal Democratic Party.

Ishiba was viewed as a politician clean on money matters before the latest scandal came to light, while the LDP, which has been in power for most of the period since 1955, has long been associated with political funds scandals.

Support for the Cabinet stood at 39.6 percent last month. In March, the disapproval rating for Ishiba's Cabinet jumped by 16.0 points to 57.8 percent, casting doubt on his leadership in steering an already faltering government.

The two-day survey was carried out after Ishiba admitted that his office had provided gift certificates, but claimed the practice did not pose legal problems, prompting some LDP members to disclose that previous prime ministers had engaged in similar conduct.

Last week, ruling party sources revealed that the office of former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Ishiba's predecessor, offered gift vouchers worth 100,000 yen each to parliamentary vice ministers during a 2022 meal gathering with the then premier.

Fresh evidence has also emerged pointing to a long-standing controversial practice among Japanese prime ministers, with an LDP lawmaker saying he received cash-equivalent coupons after being elected in 2012.

The general election that year paved the way for Shinzo Abe, who had served a one-year tenure in 2006-2007, to begin a second term that continued through 2020, making him postwar Japan's longest-serving prime minister. He was assassinated during an election campaign speech in 2022.

Many people have been disappointed with LDP's failure to responsibly manage political funds, with the poll showing 78.5 percent felt problems related to "politics and money" will not be resolved under the LDP-led government.

Throughout 2024, the LDP came under intense scrutiny amid allegations that some of its factions, including the largest one formerly led by Abe, failed to report portions of their income from fundraising parties and created slush funds.

Mounting criticism of the ruling party eroded public trust in the LDP and triggered its crushing defeat in the House of Representatives election last October, forcing Ishiba to form a minority government just about a month after becoming prime minister.

The survey, meanwhile, showed that 74.8 percent of respondents "do not want to go" to the World Exposition in Osaka, which is scheduled to run for six months from April 13, surpassing the 24.6 percent who said they do.

So far, around 10 countries have decided to withdraw from the expo in Osaka, the commercial hub of western Japan, with concerns growing over ballooning construction costs, apparently fueling a negative public image of the event.