(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Confidence in French president Nicolas Sarkozy has significantly eroded, according to a poll by CSA published in Valeurs Actuelles. 61 per cent of respondents think Sarkozy is leading the country in the wrong direction, up nine points since January.

In May 2007, Sarkozy, a centre-right Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) candidate 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. 59 per cent of respondents think Fillon is taking France in the right direction, up six points in a month.

France is particularly interested in helping Colombia free dozens of politicians, police and army officers kidnapped by the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) since the group includes Ingrid Betancourt, a former presidential candidate that holds both Colombian and French nationalities. Betancourt has been held in captivity for six years.

On Feb. 28, Sarkozy said he is willing to personally rescue Betancourt and claimed she is in imminent danger of death. The French president declared: "They cannot let this woman die. It is a race against the clock. (...) We can wait no longer."

Both Sarkozy and his predecessor—Jacques Chirac—have been closely involved in talks to free Betancourt, whose French ex-husband and two children live in Paris.

Polling Data

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

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

Source: CSA / Valeurs Actuelles
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,003 French adults, conducted on Feb. 20, 2008. No margin of error was provided.

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