JUST OVER half the French want the main opposition Socialist Party to win the 2012 presidential election, ending three terms of conservative government, according to an opinion poll by Viavoice.
The survey, to be published today in the daily Liberation, found that 53 per cent of those surveyed wanted the left to win the election while 37 per cent hoped it would lose.
The figures were close to the 55 per cent and 35 per cent respectively reported in an August 2010 survey, suggesting that the sex assault scandal that knocked former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn out of the race has not tarnished the Socialists.
Strauss-Kahn had been the runaway favourite to run for the left in the two-round election next April and May. The new Socialist favourite is former party leader François Hollande.
Asked whether they wanted a particular candidate to win the election or not, 47 per cent of respondents said yes for Hollande, 39 per cent said yes for his closest rival Martine Aubry and 29 per cent answered yes for Sarkozy, who is widely expected to seek a second term.
Centrists François Bayrou and Jean-Louis Borloo were close behind with scores of 25 and 22 per cent respectively.
At the same time, the survey showed 62 per cent of respondents believed the left would do no better than the right in handling the current economic malaise.
– (Reuters)