Francois Hollande is the only Socialist who would beat French president Nicolas Sarkozy in round one of a presidential vote, a poll today showed.
The survey, by Harris Interactive for Le Parisien, showed Mr Hollande would win 28 per cent of the vote against Sarkozy's 23.5 per cent, while rival Socialist candidate Martine Aubry would only draw even with the incumbent president at 24 per cent.
The finding adds weight to Mr Hollande's bid for the party's 2012 election ticket.
Ségolène Royal, 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 finds.
The survey of 888 people, conducted between August 31st and September 5th, 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 have shown both Mr Hollande and Ms Aubry winning the election contest against Mr Sarkozy, who has been struggling to boost his popularity with disillusioned voters.
However, the latest poll published yesterday showed Mr Sarkozy's popularity had risen to a 12-month high of 37 per cent at the start of September, with 72 per cent of those questioned saying he was defending French interests well abroad.
Reuters