Giorgia Meloni for the win. Almost three months since her government took Italy’s reins, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni – according to Morning Consult’s Global Leader Approval Ratings report – is the European Union’s most popular leader and the fourth most-supported worldwide.
- The report takes into account 22 leaders from democratic countries across the globe.
- 48% of Italian adults approve of Ms Meloni’s leadership, 46% don’t, and 6% either didn’t know or didn’t offer an opinion.
Tracking trends. The report highlights little change in the Italian PM’s approval rating, which dropped to 48% from 50% at the start of her mandate in late October. By contrast, the number of those who do not support her has risen from 34% to 46%.
- Ever since the government crisis that toppled former PM Mario Draghi, the percentage of Italians who believe the country is heading in the right direction has risen to around 40%. Those who disagree are over 60%, down from a peak of 80% just before the elections.
Raffaele Fitto’s remarks. In a Facebook post, the European Affairs Minister noted that the result “is a vote of confidence for the entire Meloni government and confirms the Prime Minister’s authority both in Europe and worldwide. Italians appreciate the work the PM and her government did in these first months. [Let’s go] forward like this.”
Who ranks higher… Ms Meloni is topped by India’s Narendra Modi (76% approval), Mexico’s Andrés Manuel López Obrador (66%), Switzerland’s Alain Berset and Australia’s Anthony Albanese (59%), and Brasil’s recently re-elected Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (52%).
… and who ranks lower. Everyone else on that list performed worse than Ms Meloni, including the US’ Joe Biden (41%), Canada’s Justin Trudeau (38%) and all other European leaders, such as Germany’s Olaf Scholz (32%) and France’s Emmanuel Macron (31%).
