Sarkozy’s Popularity Hits Record Low, Le Pen’s Rises, Poll Shows
French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s approval rating fell to the lowest since his May 2007 election, while the far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen’s popularity rose, a BVA survey showed.
Sixty-six percent of respondents in the survey by BVA, a Paris-based polling institute, said they have a bad or rather bad opinion of the French leader, 5 percentage points more than last month. Sarkozy’s approval rating dropped 4 points to 30 percent, the poll conducted for L’Express weekly magazine, France Inter radio and the Orange mobile phone company showed.
Marine Le Pen, daughter of the National Front’s historic leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, who retired last year, is attracting more supporters. Her approval rating gained 3 points to 22 percent. Backing for Le Pen among “right-wing” voters, including supporters of Sarkozy’s Union for a Popular Movement party, climbed 14 percentage point in one month to 43 percent.
Prime Minister Francois Fillon’s approval rating declined 7 points to 43 percent, the poll showed.
The approval rating for International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the potential opposition Socialist party candidate to Sarkozy in next year’s presidential race, dropped 5 percentage points to 52 percent, according to BVA. More than half of the respondents, or 52 percent, said they would want Strauss-Kahn to win the election while 21 percent said they wanted Sarkozy to win.
Strauss-Kahn’s approval rating among “left-wing” voters fell 3 points this month to 57 percent while Socialist Party leader Martine Aubry’s popularity advanced to 62 percent.
BVA surveyed 982 people age 18 or older on Feb. 18-19. The Paris-based polling agency didn’t publish a margin of error.
To contact the reporter on this story: Helene Fouquet in Paris at Hfouquet1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net.
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