ROME, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Most Italians agree with a court decision to strip Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of immunity from prosecution but only a minority want to cut short his term and hold early elections, according to new polls out on Sunday.
Berlusconi was furious about a Constitutional Court verdict this week removing his immunity, which meant cases for fraud and corruption linked to his Mediaset business empire can proceed.
The 73-year-old conservative leader accused the top court, the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and the media of being part of a leftist conspiracy to bring about his downfall.
But two new opinion polls suggest that the country, which elected him for a third term last year, has little sympathy with his legal predicament or with his attack on the head of state.
In an IPR poll published by Ansa news agency, 59 percent of people agreed with the court decision, two thirds thought the court was impartial, 72 percent believed the former communist head of state Napolitano was impartial and six out of 10 believed that Berlusconi had overreacted.
But only a quarter favoured cutting short Berlusconi's term, due to end in 2013, and holding early elections. His own allies and the opposition also rule out this option for the time being.
In an ISPO poll for Corriere della Sera newspaper 72 percent disagreed with the immunity law, which was one of Berlusconi's first acts on taking power last year. The court said it violated the basic principle of everyone being equal before the law.
"Italians do not like privileges being given to political leaders," said ISPO's Renato Mannheimer. "This could signal the start of a more general disaffection or, morel likely, an isolated reaction to a particular item of legislation."
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