TOKYO (AP) Approval ratings for Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso's Cabinet are hovering above 20 percent, two surveys showed _ better than earlier this year but still dismally low for a leader trying to keep his party in power.

A Kyodo news agency survey on Sunday showed that support for Mr. Aso stood at 23.4 percent, up 5.9 percentage points from the previous month. A separate survey conducted by the Nikkei financial daily and TV Tokyo reported support at 21 percent, down 4 percentage points from its June survey.

The latest numbers came after candidates vying for a spot in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly kicked off their campaigns Friday. The election on July 12 is considered a crucial test for Mr. Aso's Liberal Democratic Party in the run-up to lower house elections that must be called by September.

Leaders from all parties, including Mr. Aso, fanned out across the metropolis this weekend to make their case with the city's 10 million voters.

``With each vote, we can change Tokyo!'' Yukio Hatoyama, leader of the biggest opposition, the Democratic Party of Japan, cried out at a rally Friday. ``We can change Japan!''

If the DPJ manages to win a majority of the 127 seats up for grabs in Tokyo, it would be an ominous sign for the ruling party's chances at the national level.

Mr. Aso has been fighting to cling to his job amid public disenchantment over the recession and political scandals. Support ratings for Mr. Aso's Cabinet fell to the single digits in February.

But the DPJ is fighting its own scandals and has not been able to loosen the grip on power of its rival, which has ruled Japan almost continuously for more than half a century.

The Liberal Democratic Party's approval rating fell 2 points to 29 percent, while the figure for the opposition stood at 37 percent, according to the Nikkei survey. That 8-point lead is the widest since January, it added.

More than half of the 843 respondents _ who were eligible voters contacted by phone _ said Mr. Aso's recent Cabinet reshuffle were inappropriate.

Kyodo surveyed 1,022 respondents but didn't say how they were chosen. Neither gave a margin of error.

Today's galleries: