Japan PM seen battling to keep job after election

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's backers are trying to set the stage for him to keep his job if his ruling bloc gets trounced in a parliamentary election on Sunday, but analysts wonder whether the strategy will work. 

Media surveys have forecast a loss for Abe's coalition after his support rates slid to around 30 percent, half the level he enjoyed when he took office in September, on anger over bungled pension records and a series of gaffes and scandals that led two ministers to resign and one to commit suicide.