The support rate for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's Cabinet has dropped to 33.1 percent, the lowest since its launch last year, a Kyodo News survey showed Sunday, after three of his ministers were forced out in less than a month.

The approval rating was down from 37.6 percent in the previous poll conducted in late October, while the disapproval rating rose to 51.6 percent, exceeding 50 percent for the first time since Kishida took office in October last year, according to the two-day nationwide telephone survey conducted from Saturday.

The latest poll showed that 62.4 percent of survey respondents see Kishida's sacking of the three ministers as too late, while 26.0 percent think it was appropriately timed.

It also showed 60.8 percent approve the government's plan for Japan to acquire an enemy base strike capability, or a "counterstrike capability," compared with 35.0 percent who disapprove.