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Poll: Hollande's popularity up after ruling out second term

Xinhua, December 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

French President Francois Hollande saw increased popularity after he decided not to seek a second presidential term, an opinion poll showed on Tuesday.

The ifop-Fiducial poll conducted for aris Match and Sud Radio showed that the Socialist leader enjoyed 29 percent of votes with satisfaction, 13 percent more than the 16 percent recorded a month earlier.

The opinion poll attributed the increase to Hollande's decision not to seek re-election.

His announcement "seems to have been appreciated by the respondents," said the poll.

Hollande announced the decision last Thursday, ending months of speculations over his candidacy for 2017 presidential election.

He thus became the first president in the 58-year-old Fifth Republic not to seek re-election.

Hollande was elected the first Socialist president in 17 years with nearly 52 percent of votes over the conservative Nicolas Sarkozy in May 2012.

But his popularity has nosedived since the election for his flip-flops on key issues, such as shifting wealth super-tax to pro-business reform.

His labor-market reform frustrated grassroots supporters and triggered protests.

And a slew of setbacks, such as high unemployment, lackluster economic growth, terrorist attacks and wavering security reforms, further damaged his image, making him the most unpopular post-war president in France.

During the last five months of his mandate, the French president vowed to focus on leading the country until the two-round presidential competition in April 23 and May 7.

Ifop-Fiducial poll collected opinions from 983 respondents on Friday and Saturday. Endit