Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said today polls were showing his approval ratings were surprisingly unaffected by a "pile of falsities" in the media over his impending divorce.
Mr Berlusconi, who went on national television this week to deny his wife's accusations he was involved with a teenage girl, said his ratings were just as high as last week - when he declared himself the world's most popular leader.
"I got the weekly polls this morning and they showed the (ruling) People of Freedom party at 45 per cent and the prime minister's rating at 75 per cent," he told a conference by phone.
"I expected a fall in my approval ratings, but this media campaign based on a heap of falsities that has erupted in recent days has been read with intelligence by Italians."
Mr Berlusconi often boasts of his popularity quoting private polls that are not released to the media, but other polls have shown lower figures, like one published by the left-leaning La Repubblica daily that put his support at 56 per cent last month.
The first polls after his wife sought a divorce suggest little impact on voter sentiment for European elections and one poll published by a magazine owned by Berlusconi's family showed 84 per cent had not changed their opinion of the premier.
But two other polls - by the
Il Sole 24daily and
Coesis-- have shown more sympathy for his wife, Veronica Lario, than the prime minister.
Lario, Mr Berlusconi's wife of 19 years, last weekend was quoted in Italian media as saying she wanted a divorce because she could not "stay with a man who frequents minors", prompting fervent denials from the premier.