Friday, March 9, 2012

Poll: Sarkozy least popular leader in Europe

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is the least liked of Europe's top five leaders, a poll showed today, confirming the scale of the challenge facing the conservative candidate weeks ahead of his bid for re-election.

Sarkozy, who badly trails Socialist rival Francois Hollande in polls of French voting intentions, has battled with dire popularity ratings at home for much of his term, but the survey showed he is also less liked than many of his European peers.

"There's a lot of strong feeling about Nicolas Sarkozy. He irritates in Europe as much as he does in France," Gael Sliman, head of the BVA Opinion polling institute, said.

Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed held a poor opinion of Sarkozy, compared to 41 percent for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, 42 percent for Britain's David Cameron, 36 percent for Italy's Mario Monti and 34 percent for Spain's Mariano Rajoy.

BVA questioned 4,217 people for the poll in France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Britain.

out that his opponent Hollande is little known in most European capitals.

Sarkozy has already set a record in his home country as the least popular president in the last half century.

BVA is the 4th largest research agency in France.