Approval rate of Giorgia Meloni 2024

A recent survey indicates that the majority of the Italian population do not have a positive image of PM Giorgia Meloni after two years in charge. Specifically, 52 percent of respondents disapprove of her government, whereas only 41 percent think positively about her performance. Foreign policy and the management of the post-COVID-19 recovery plan are among the policy areas in which Meloni collects the most support.

Italian women in politics

Giorgia Meloni is the first female Italian head of government since the unification of the country in 1861. She was appointed by president Sergio Mattarella after that the center-right coalition won the general election in September 2022 and her party Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d’Italia - FdI) obtained one fourth of the votes. However, the representation of women in Italian political institutions remains low. In the past legislature (2018-2022), only 36 percent of the members of the parliament were women, and data worsen when considering the number of female officials in ministerial positions, which stay below 30 percent of the total. Moreover, in a survey conducted in 2021 among young Italians, one third of the respondents believed that women and girls are suffering more violence and discrimination in politics rather than in any other sector.

Rise of the Brothers of Italy party

The Prime Minister’s party was founded in 2012 and in its first years it obtained disappointing results. However, since 2021, a constant growth started and the party collected more and more consensus due to its hard opposition to Mario Draghi's national unity government. The results of the 2022 elections confirmed the right-wing party as the nation’s most voted political association, with 26 percent of the votes. In 2024, FdI continued growing and reached almost 30 percent of the popular consensus. This performance highlights an impressive success of Brothers of Italy under Meloni’s leadership. In fact, a series of European Election surveys conducted in 2019 reported her party winning only 4.4 percent of the voters’ consent. Hence, in five years, the leader increased her popular consensus by almost 25 percent.