Although the gain is inside the margin of error, it's still amazing to see Berlusconi moving through what would probably be a scandal in most any other country. Somehow each time a scandal arrives, he moves past with barely a problem.
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.
