The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Paris

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's popularity plunged in a new poll released Sunday while his ruling party also suffered an election defeat which some leaders have blamed on the President's private life.

With Sarkozy at the centre of a mew media blitz surrounding his marriage to former supermodel Carla Bruni, an LH2 poll for Liberation newspaper said 55 percent of those surveyed had a negative opinion of Sarkozy. Just 41 percent had a favourable view, a 13 percentage point drop from a month ago.

The poll was conducted both before and after the announcement Saturday of the 53-year-old President's marriage to Italian Bruni after a whirlwind romance.

Other polls in the past few weeks have showed an erosion of public support for Sarkozy, who was elected President in May. Analysts say the public feels Sarkozy, who was only divorced in October, spends more time worrying about his private life than he does the concerns of the French people.

In July, Sarkozy had a 67 percent approval rating and in January it stood at 54 percent.

Pollster Francois Miquet-Marty at LH2 said such a sudden poll slump was rare and that "there are few examples of such massive defections," apart from President Jacques Chirac in 1995 after a failed bid to reform pensions.