Sept. 3 (Bloomberg) -- More Japanese voters say they prefer the ruling party to the opposition after Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's resignation, according to a Kyodo news poll.

The nationwide telephone survey showed 38.5 percent of eligible voters would support the Liberal Democratic Party in the proportional-representation section of lower house elections, Kyodo said. The opposition Democratic Party of Japan received 34.9 percent support in the survey.

In Japanese general elections voters are asked to choose individual candidates and a party that will win seats based on its showing.

LDP Secretary-General Taro Aso had 35.3 percent support to become the next prime minister, more than any other candidate, the poll taken after Fukuda announced his resignation Sept. 1 showed. Kyodo didn't provide a margin of error or say how many people were contacted in the survey.

To contact the reporter on this story: Toko Sekiguchi in Tokyo at Tsekiguchi3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 3, 2008 06:00 EDT