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Sarkozy Still Leads Royal in French Run-Off
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) is holding on to the lead before next week's second round in France, according to two recent voting intention polls.
In a survey by TNS-Sofres released by Unilog, Sarkozy is ahead with 51 per cent, and Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal trails with 49 per cent. In a tracking study by Ipsos released by SFR and Le Point, Sarkozy holds a six-point lead over Royal.
First round voting took place on Apr. 22. Final results put Sarkozy in first place with 31.18 per cent, followed by Royal with 25.87 per cent, Union for French Democracy (UDF) leader François Bayrou with 18.57 per cent, and Jean-Marie Le Pen of the National Front (FN) with 10.44 per cent. Since no candidate garnered more than 50 per cent of the vote, a run-off featuring the top two vote-getters will take place on May 6.
Today, Royal and Bayrou participated in a televised debate where they vowed to seek "common ground" before the second round. Sarkozy dismissed the meeting between his run-off rival and the centrist politician, saying, "I prefer being on the ground with (labour minister) Jean-Louis Borloo. It's symbolic. We have two in a big Parisian hotel and us two on the ground."
The UMP's Jacques Chirac won the presidential ballot in 1995, and was re-elected in a run-off over Le Pen in May 2002.
Polling Data
a) Who would you vote for in the presidential election?
Apr. 24 | Apr. 19 | Apr. 17 | |
Nicolas Sarkozy | 51% | 53% | 51% |
Ségolène Royal | 49% | 47% | 49% |
Source: TNS-Sofres / Unilog
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,000 French adults, conducted on Apr. 23 and Apr. 24, 2007. No margin of error was provided.
b) Who would you vote for in the presidential election?
Apr. 27 | Apr. 24 | Apr. 22 | |
Nicolas Sarkozy | 53% | 53.5% | 54% |
Ségolène Royal | 47% | 46.5% | 46% |
Source: Ipsos / SFR / Le Point
Methodology: Interviews with 1,219 French adults, conducted from Apr. 25 to Apr. 27, 2007. No margin of error was provided.