April 25, 2008

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many French adults are not satisfied with the way Nicolas Sarkozy is governing, according to a poll by CSA published in Valeurs Actuelles. 65 per cent of respondents think the president is taking the country in the wrong direction, up five points in a month.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many French adults are not satisfied with the way Nicolas Sarkozy is governing, according to a poll by CSA published in Valeurs Actuelles. 65 per cent of respondents think the president is taking the country in the wrong direction, up five points in a month.

In May 2007, Sarkozy, candidate for the centre-right Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) and former interior minister, won the presidential run-off with 53.06 per cent of the vote. Sarkozy appointed François Fillon—who had been his adviser and presidential campaign leader—as prime minister. 51 per cent of respondents think Fillon is moving France in the right direction, down three points in a month.

Yesterday, Sarkozy appeared on television and vowed to carry on with reforms, saying, "We must start the necessary changes so France can remain a major power in the world. The only strategy is to put in place the changes that others have made and we have not. (...) If I stopped because high school students are unhappy, unions aren’t happy—in France someone is always unhappy. There is always a good reason not to do things, and the more we defer them, it costs a lot more, and it’s much harder."

Polling Data

Would you say French president Nicolas Sarkozy is taking the country in the right direction, or the wrong direction?

	Apr. 2008	Mar. 2008	Feb. 2008
Right direction	28%	30%	33%
Wrong direction	65%	60%	61%

Would you say French prime minister François Fillon is taking the country in the right direction, or the wrong direction?

	Apr. 2008	Mar. 2008	Feb. 2008
Right direction	51%	54%	55%
Wrong direction	35%	32%	32%

Source: CSA / Valeurs Actuelles
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,006 French adults, conducted on Apr. 16 and Apr. 17, 2008. No margin of error was provided.