The support rate for Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's cabinet has dropped, and the majority of those surveyed believed Ichiro Ozawa should resign as the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)'s secretary-general, two major Japanese newspapers reported on Monday.

One poll conducted by the Asahi Shimbun over the weekend revealed that the support rate for Hatoyama's cabinet had fallen 6 percentage points from a month earlier to 42 percent, meanwhile the Yomiuri Shimbun's survey showed support had dropped 11 points to 45 percent.

The surveys were conducted following the arrests of one current and two former aides to Ozawa linked to a dubious land purchase by his political funds management organization.

When questioned whether they thought Ozawa should resign as secretary-general and second in command of the DPJ, following the arrests over the alleged political funding scandal, 67 percent said yes in the Asahi poll and 70 percent agreed in the Yomiuri poll.

The Yomiuri Shimbun noted that 91 percent of respondents said Ozawa had not fulfilled his responsibility to explain to the public about the scandal involving his political funds management organization called Rikuzankai.

Ozawa, seen by many as Japan's most influential politician, is credited with engineering last year's election victory which ended half a century of conservative dominance.

The Yomiuri poll showed that the decision by Hatoyama to allow Ozawa to continue as secretary-general was not a popular one among DPJ supporters, with 51 percent saying it was an inappropriate decision, whilst 37 percent said they agreed with it.