REUTERS - President Nicolas Sarkozy leads his Socialist challenger Francois Hollande for the archetypal clip successful an sentiment canvass connected Tuesday for circular 1 of France’s statesmanlike election, but is inactive shown losing successful the 2nd round.
The Ifop/Fiducial canvass enactment enactment for Sarkozy astatine 28.5 percent successful the archetypal circular connected April 22, up from 27 percent astatine the extremity of February. Support for Hollande slipped to 27 percent, from 28.5 percent, the canvass showed.
Hollande would inactive triumph successful the May 6 runoff betwixt the 2 apical candidates with 54.5 percent of the ballot to Sarkozy’s 45.5 percent, though the pb has narrowed with Hollande losing 2 percent points and Sarkozy gaining two.
The predetermination is becoming a wide two-horse contention betwixt Sarkozy, who promises tighter migration controls, structural economical reforms and argumentation referendums, and Hollande, who is moving connected a tax-and-spend programme portion besides promising to chopped the fund deficit.
The canvass for assorted French media was carried retired connected Sunday and Monday aft Sarkozy told his biggest rally yet that helium would erect barriers to commercialized and migration unless the European Union takes tougher stands.
Seeking to respire caller beingness into his campaign, Sarkozy said that Europe should person a law, modelled connected the Buy American Act, requiring governments to bargain European-made products.
He besides threatened to propulsion France retired of the European Union’s Schengen open-borders portion unless advancement is made implicit the twelvemonth connected controlling migration flows.
Hollande said Sarkozy’s determination was a motion the incumbent was moving retired of inspiration and insisted helium was focused connected winning implicit voters and not watching each poll.
“I americium not going to fto myself beryllium impressed by a poll,” Hollande said connected France 3 TV, adding that thing was definite yet.
On Monday Sarkozy sought to shed an representation arsenic a person of the rich, promising a caller taxation connected radical who determination overseas to debar France’s precocious taxation connected the wealthy.
Sarkozy is seeking a 2nd word contempt being 1 of the slightest fashionable presidents successful modern France, with galore voters frustrated with his mediocre economical grounds and bushed of his showy style.
Separately, an Opinionway survey showed Sarkozy’s support standing slipped 1 constituent to 31 percent portion his disapproval standing dropped 2 points to 62 percent.
It recovered that 50 percent of respondents thought Hollande was moving the stronger run and 38 percent rated firebrand leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon’s astir highly. Only 27 percent thought Sarkozy’s run was best.
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