French President Nicolas Sarkozy's popularity rating has edged up 1 percentage point but remains near record lows following the sexual assault charges against former IMF chief Dominique Strass-Kahn, according to a poll.
Strass-Kahn had been expected to declare his candidacy for the 2012 presidential election and was far ahead of Sarkozy in polls. The Socialist former finance minister has resigned as IMF chief following charges that he attempted to rape a New York hotel maid. Some 71 percent of people surveyed said they were dissatisfied with Sarkozy in May, slightly better than the 72 percent in April, his worst showing, according to the Ifop poll carried out for Sunday newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.
The poll, for which 1,874 people were interviewed, took place between May 12 and May 20. Strauss-Kahn was arrested on May 14 in New York, the news breaking on May 15 in France.
Sarkozy's popularity ratings have worsened over the course of his term and have not been helped by recent high-profile interventions in Libya and Ivory Coast. In the beginning of his presidency in 2007, Sarkozy's monthly satisfaction scores ranged from 52 percent to 69 percent.
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