Italy losing confidence in Berlusconi, poll says

ROME (Reuters) - Confidence in Silvio Berlusconi has slipped from the high levels seen early in his tenure, according to a new poll, as the Italian premier faces deep economic gloom, strikes, protests and criticism for a gaffe about Barack Obama.

A survey by pollsters IPR for the website of left-leaning La Repubblica newspaper said support for Berlusconi and for his center-right government as a whole slipped 4 percentage points over the past month to 58 and 50 percent respectively.

"The honeymoon is over," was the online paper's headline.

It was the second recent poll to show a big drop in support for Berlusconi. A Corriere della Sera poll showed his government tumbling to 42 percent in October from 60 percent the previous month.

The 72-year-old media mogul, elected for a third term in April after two years' unstable center-left rule, moved quickly to solve Naples' trash crisis, mobilised troops to combat crime and appeared to find Italian buyers for loss-making Alitalia.

Italy, despite having one of the worst-performing economies in Europe, even seemed to miss the worst of the global financial crisis due to its banks' conservative lending practices.

But polls suggest the tide is turning, with the economy now in recession, Alitalia's rescue faltering and pilots striking, students protesting at education reforms and Berlusconi chided for saying U.S. President-elect Obama had a nice "suntan."

The IFR poll, which surveyed 1,000 people, also showed a two-point rise in support for Walter Veltroni, the center-left leader who lost April's election.

(Reporting by Stephen Brown; Editing by Giles Elgood)