Luca Zaia and Antonio Decaro are confirmed as the local administrators with the highest approval rating in Italy in 2021, respectively with 74% of the votes for the president of the Veneto Region and with 65% for the mayor of Bari, in the annual survey carried out from Noto Polls for Il Sole 24 Ore published in the Sole 24 Ore on Monday 5 July. Behind them, however, twelve months later, the picture of the most popular leaders is in strong movement. Among the presidents of the Region we note the step of Stefano Bonaccini (Emilia Romagna, PD) who, with a growth of 6%, reaches 60% and undercuts from second place Massimiliano Fedriga (Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lega), who among the the other must share the third step of the podium with Vincenzo De Luca (Campania, Pd) both at 59%; in the top five, in fourth place the Ligurian governor Giovanni Toti (center-right) with 56% and in fifth place Alberto Cirio (Piedmont, center-right) with 52.5%.
Among the mayors the second place of Luigi Brugnaro (Venice, center-right) emerges at 62%, marking a leap of + 7.9%, followed in the third by Giorgio Gori (Bergamo, center-left) ex aequo with Marco Fioravanti (Ascoli Piceno, center-right) both at 61% but with the Mayor of Bergamo up by 5.7%. This is what emerges from the new edition of the traditional annual “Governance Poll” survey, carried out by Noto Sondaggi for Il Sole 24 Ore and published today Monday 5 July. A survey that captures the trends of local administrators 16 months after the outbreak of the pandemic, in a phase that today is no longer dominated by infections and the economic crisis, but by the prospects of recovery of all activities thanks to the growing vaccination campaign.
In the case of the governors, if the comparison moves from the 2020 result to that of the election day, the performances of Luca Zingaretti (Lazio) stand out, earning +10 points, Nello Musumeci (Sicily, +9.2) and Bonaccini himself ( +8.6). On the other hand, the prices of Donatella Tesei (Umbria) are down, compared to both last year and election day. The thermometer of the popularity of trade unions highlights, in the comparison between 2021 and the day of the elections, two groups of critical situations. The first is that of the mayors of the big cities of the South struggling with failing accounts and administrative paralysis: the last three places in the ranking of the 105 capital cities are in fact Salvo Pogliese (Catania, 30% of the votes), Luigi De Magistris (Naples , 35%) and Leoluca Orlando (Palermo, 39%). The other shaky front is, more generally, that of the metropolis: Dario Nardella (Florence, 57%) and Virginio Merola (Bologna, 54.6%) continue to get by very well, but Beppe Sala (Milan) stops for the first. time below 50% occupying an opaque 81st place (-2.7%), while the Cinque Stelle mayors Virginia Raggi (Rome) and Chiara Appendino (Turin) cohabit at box number 94 with 43% approval, with Raggi which falls by 24.2% and the Appendino by 11.6%.
The administrative wear and tear – which, for example, hit Federico Pizzarotti (Parma, 97th place) in full, removing him from the top positions he occupied a few years ago – does not affect the favor of Clemente Mastella (Benevento), who arrives at the end of his first mandate from mayor with a solid 59.5%. The difficulties of administrative life can quickly be fatal even for outsiders: this is demonstrated by the free fall – from second to 22nd place in just one year – in the quotations of Cateno De Luca (Messina).