The approval rating for Romano Prodi's center-left government fell below 50% this month as did the popularity of the premier himself. A poll taken by the IPR marketing group for the Rome daily La Repubblica found that in October only 45% of Italians had confidence in the executive, a drop of 12 percentage points from the 57% rating the government enjoyed in a similar poll in September.
The majority, 52%, of the 1,000 Italians quizzed for the poll said they had little or no confidence in the government, compared to 39% a month ago.
Prodi's popularity sank from 53% last month to 49% and 48% of Italians said they had little of no confidence in him, compared to 41% in September.
Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema had the highest approval rating in the government, 64%, followed by Infrastructures Minister Antonio Di Pietro and Sports Minister Giovanna Melandri, both 63%, while Justice Minister Clemente Masella had the lowest rating, 42%.
