Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn would defeat French President Nicolas Sarkozy by a margin of 51 percent to 49 percent if a presidential election runoff were held now, a CSA poll showed.

Neither Strauss-Kahn, who lost in the Socialist Party primaries for the 2007 election, nor Sarkozy has said he plans to run in the French presidential vote scheduled for 2012.

Sarkozy would defeat Francois Bayrou of the Democratic Movement party 51 percent to 49 percent, the same CSA opinion poll for La Chaine Parlementaire showed today. He would beat Socialist party leader Martine Aubry and Socialist Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe with 53 percent of the vote, the poll showed. He would beat Socialist party member Segolene Royal, whom he beat in the 2007 presidential runoff, by a margin or 55 percent to 45 percent.

“Despite the political turmoil in the majority, the French don’t wish to replace Nicolas Sarkozy at any price,” CSA said in an e-mailed commentary.

Sarkozy’s approval rating dropped in recent polls after his son announced plans to run for the chairmanship of France’s biggest business-district planning agency before pulling out because of public accusations of nepotism. Sarkozy’s plan to introduce a tax on carbon-dioxide emissions and to overhaul the funding of local governments has also been criticized by the opposition and some of his supporters.

CSA polled 910 eligible voters aged 18 or more by telephone on Nov. 4-5. It didn’t give a margin of error.

To contact the reporter on this story: Francois de Beaupuy in Paris at fdebeaupuy@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 6, 2009 07:04 EST