PARIS – Francois Hollande is the only Socialist who would beat French president Nicolas Sarkozy in round one of a presidential vote, a poll showed yesterday, adding weight to his bid for the party’s 2012 election ticket.
The survey, by Harris Interactive for Le Parisien, showed Mr Hollande would win 28 per cent of the vote against Mr Sarkozy's 23.5 per cent, while rival Socialist candidate Martine Aubry would only draw even with the incumbent president at 24 per cent.
Ségolène Royal, Mr Sarkozy’s rival in the 2007 election campaign, would be beaten in a new election, winning just 15 per cent of the vote against 24 per cent for Mr Sarkozy. The survey of 888 people came after Socialist Party candidates met at a party congress late last month to try to drum up support before voters pick their favourite runner in October.
Mr Hollande, who has never held a ministerial post, has been leading the polls against Ms Aubry since the previous front-runner Dominique Strauss-Kahn was knocked out of the race after his arrest in New York on charges of attempted rape. The case against him has been dropped.
Previous polls had shown both Mr Hollande and Ms Aubry winning the election contest against Mr Sarkozy, who has been struggling to boost his popularity.
However, a poll for Paris-Matchmagazine published on Tuesday showed Mr Sarkozy's popularity had risen to a 12-month high of 37 per cent at the start of September.