French President Nicolas Sarkozy's started the year with his approval rating just barely above an all-time low as a 2012 presidential election looms, a poll published on Tuesday.
The president's approval rating has fallen to 34 percent from 36 percent in December, according to a survey of 1,021 people on Jan. 6-7 by pollsters IFOP.
Sarkozy's rating is now just one percentage point above a record low reached after his party put in a poor showing in regional elections last April, IFOP said.
Apart from a brief New Year's Eve address to the nation, Sarkozy kept a largely low profile as 2011 started, with the media focused on debate in France's political class over the future of the 35-hour work week rather than the conservative president's activities.
Despite the slump in Sarkozy's popularity, the survey found that 61 percent of those polled considered that the opposition would not do better than the government if it were in power.
Sarkozy has yet to say whether he will run for re-election in 2012 but his entourage has been drumming up support for a bid. He has said that he would not announce his plans until next autumn.
The president has trailed rival Socialist heavyweights in opinion polls, with IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn enjoying the highest popularity among potential candidates in the election even though he has not said if he would run.
Socialist leaders, who have been riven by divisions since Sarkozy's 2007 election, decided on Tuesday that they would hold a primary in two rounds on Oct. 9 and 16 to determine their candidate. - Reuters