Japan's Democratic Party can win next month's election if more of the "floating voters" who shun party loyalty awake from Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's hypnotic spell, the Democrats' former leader said on Saturday, Reuters reported . Support for the Democrats has been falling and that for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party rising since Koizumi called a general election for Sept. 11 after rebels in his party helped to defeat bills to privatize the postal system, the core of his reform agenda. An Aug. 24-26 survey by the Yomiuri newspaper published on Saturday, though, found that the Democrats were regaining lost ground among floating voters -- many of them younger urbanites -- who have traditionally leaned toward the opposition. The poll also showed a small rise overall in the percentage of voters planning to vote for the Democrats -- although twice as many respondents still said they would opt for the LDP. "Right after Koizumi dissolved the lower house, interest focused on his theatrical-style election and he attracted support, but now people are cooling off and starting to listen to the policy debate," Naoto Kan told Reuters in an interview. "I think we are seeing the buds of change," Kan said, sipping bottled water as he traveled by car between campaign stops in western Tokyo. Koizumi's colorful battle with LDP rebels and his tactic of sending younger, often female candidates -- dubbed "assassins" by media -- to fight his old guard rivals has been drowning out the Democrats' message that other issues such as pension reform mattered more than privatizing the postal system. "Koizumi is a master of hypnotism," Kan said. "If that hypnotic spell wears off, it will be clear Koizumi hasn't achieved reforms," he said, adding it was in the cities where the prime minister's tactics had had the most impact. --more 1037 Local Time 0737 GMT
