More than half of voters back Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s 2020 proposal that the Self-Defense Forces be defined and written into the pacifist Constitution, a Kyodo News poll showed Sunday.

The survey, conducted Saturday and Sunday, found that 56 percent of respondents say it’s necessary to legitimize the SDF’s presence in Article 9, which renounces use of force as a means to solve international disputes and prohibits Japan from maintaining war potential.

The survey also found that the support rate for Abe’s Cabinet fell 3.3 points to 55.4 percent from the previous survey last month.

The telephone survey covered 1,787 people, of whom 1,033 responded.

Asked whether they favored revising the Constitution under the Abe government, however, voters were split, with 44.5 percent saying yes and 43.4 percent saying no.

Abe said earlier this month that a revision should clearly mention the SDF’s existence but keep the rest of Article 9 intact despite the contradiction his proposal creates. His proposal, lighter in tone than his party’s, is widely seen as a bid to make constitutional revision drive more palatable.

The poll also found that 77.2 percent believe the government has not sufficiently explained the so-called conspiracy bill, which revises the anti-organized crime law and is purportedly aimed at permitting authorities to crack down on people suspected of being terrorists who conspire to commit crimes. Critics say it will lead to widespread abuses of power.

Abe’s ruling bloc rammed the bill through the Lower House justice committee on Friday.

Respondents were divided over the legislation, with backers standing at 39.9 percent and opponents at 41.4 percent.

However, a majority — 54.4 percent — said it was not good for the ruling coalition to force the bill through committee in spite of the strong opposition protests.