France's Hollande Popularity on free fall

French President Francois Hollande's approval rating declined for the sixth month in a row in November, a poll showed, as he wrestles with a sickly economy and rising unemployment.

The number of people satisfied with Hollande's performance slipped by 1 percentage point to 41 percent in November, according to the Ifop poll, a new low since he became France's first Socialist president in 17 years in May.

Hollande said this week public criticism would not divert him from his goal of reviving the economy and called on voters to judge him in five years.

The approval rating of Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, worsened at a faster rate, declining by 6 percentage points to 43 percent this month, according to the poll carried out for Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper.

That was Ayrault's fifth consecutive monthly decline, the Ifop survey showed.

The poll was based on 1,917 people aged at least 18 and was carried out by telephone between November 8 and November 16, Ifop said.