In a telephone poll conducted by the Kyodo news agency Monday and Tuesday, the DJP received a 41.1 percent approval rate, while 71.1 percent of Japan's voters expressed high expectations of Hatoyama.

Hatoyama faces the daunting task of leading the world's second-largest economy out of its worst post-war recession.

He vowed to achieve that goal by breaking the power of the bureaucracy and reducing wasteful spending.