TOKYO, Dec. 25 -- The latest survey showed more than half of respondents think the Japanese government did not take enough time to discuss the issue of lifting the ban on its collective self-defense, local media reported Thursday.

In the nationwide telephone survey conducted Wednesday and Thursday by Japan's Kyodo News Agency, 54.3 percent of the respondents said the government should take sufficient time before submitting to parliament bills to legalize Japan's exercise of the right to collective self-defense in July.

The approving rate for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's newly formed Cabinet stood at 53.5 percent, compared with 46.9 percent in the previous survey.

Meanwhile, 34.9 percent expressed disapproval of the Cabinet in which only the defense minister was replaced, down from 45.3 percent in the earlier survey on Dec. 15 to 16.

The poll came after Abe was re-elected as prime minister Wednesday following a victory in the Dec. 14 lower house election that gave him a fresh mandate.