Hollande slump is ‘normal’

THE Socialists have defended a slump in the polls of their presidential candidate, François Hollande, as a “logical readjustment” now the party’s primaries are over and he is less visible in the media.

Hollande’s campaign director, Pierre Moscovici, said interest in the primaries had caused a “state of grace”, which they had known could not last. “After the primaries, where the party was in the full media glare, it was logical there would be a readjustment in terms of opinion,” added party spokesman Benoît Hamon.

The comments came as several polls show the same trend – Hollande dropping compared to a rise for President Sarkozy.

Notably, an LH2 poll for Yahoo found Hollande has lost nine points compared to last month and the president has gained five, the percentages who would vote for them in the first round being respectively 30% and 29% - 1% difference as opposed to 15%.

Another poll, by CSA for BFM-TV and RMC, saw the same trend but mitigated – Hollande down a point at 34% for the first round, Sarkozy up two, at 27%. Boosted by his recent activity on the international scene, meanwhile, the president gained points in the latest Ifop-JDD popularity poll, 34% of those polled being satisfied with his performance, up from 31%.

According to those close to Hollande, however the changes are simply a “normalisation”, compared for surveys which had given him percentages higher than any seen in a the run-up to a presidential election in the Fifth Republic. They insisted they are not, as some commentators have suggested, a reflection on bickering between the Socialists and greens last week, as they sought agreements over the future of nuclear power.