Shintaro Ishihara, re-elected as Tokyo governor in a landslide in Sunday's election, was supported by nearly 70 percent of unaffiliated voters and 90 percent of supporters of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, according to a Kyodo News exit poll.
Of respondents who said they voted for Ishihara, 62.4 percent said they want to see the governor become prime minister.
Although Ishihara's main rival, Keiko Higuchi, had the unofficial backing of the Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition force, and the Social Democratic Party, the exit poll showed that only 33.6 percent of DPJ supporters voted for Higuchi. Fifty-nine percent said they backed Ishihara.