Poll shows increased backing for Freedom People movement, with less than half of Italians believing PM should resign
It has shocked and titillated newspaper readers the world over, but it would seem that the latest scandal over Silvio Berlusconi's riotous private life has done nothing to undermine his supporters' faith in him.
A poll published today by Corriere della Sera found backing for his Freedom People movement was higher than a month earlier, and less than half of Italians believed he should resign.
The survey was conducted last week, as controversy raged over the findings of an investigation by prosecutors in Milan, which had been delivered to parliament on 17 December. These included claims by a participant that Berlusconi hosted a party for more than 20 women that turned into an orgy.
Italy's prime minister is formally suspected of paying an underage prostitute and trying to cover it up by exerting pressure on the police. Prosecutors say a nightclub dancer, Karima "Ruby" el-Mahroug, who was 17 at the time, visited Berlusconi eight times at his villa, near Milan, last year.
Yet the poll found that, if an election was held immediately, more than 30% of voters would support his party, compared with less than 28% in December. Berlusconi's Freedom People movement, together with its main ally, the Northern League, could garner almost 41%.
Renato Mannheimer, the head of the company that conducted the poll, said "even the Catholic electorate ... does not appear to have significantly altered its preferences". For the first time, the number of Italians favouring Berlusconi's resignation exceeded the number who opposed it, but they represented only 49% of the electorate.
Many of the prime minister's critics will see the results as a reflection of his power to influence voters through the media. On the day the investigation's findings were released, one of his TV channels relegated the story to third place on the evening news.
Mannheimer said his findings pointed to other factors: Berlusconi supporters were "accustomed to news about the prime minister's lifestyle" and "do not see a practical alternative".
Since December they have had a rightwing alternative in the form of a new, third alliance formed by Berlusconi's former ally, the "post-fascist" Gianfranco Fini, and the leader of the conservative Christian Democrats, Pier Ferdinando Casini. The poll suggested their parties' overall share of the vote was unchanged.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/23/silvio-berlusconi-poll-party-support
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