Mexico's Calderon less popular amid energy debate

MEXICO CITY, May 5 (Reuters) - Mexican President Felipe Calderon's popularity has slipped in the past two months amid fierce opposition by leftists to his energy reform proposal.

Approval for Calderon, who narrowly won the 2006 presidential election over leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has fallen to 62 percent from 66 percent in February, according to an opinion poll published on Monday.

Forty-two percent of people said Mexico was on the right track, down from 49 percent.

Leftist lawmakers held sit-ins in Congress last month to protest a proposal by Calderon to allow more private investment in the state-controlled energy sector.

Calderon wants to let private companies participate more in the energy industry to stave off falling production. Mexicans are passionately protective of state oil monopoly Pemex, which leftists say Calderon would like to privatize.

Despite the drop in approval, Calderon's rating is still much higher than in mid-2006, when Mexico was bitterly divided over his razor-thin presidential election victory over Lopez Obrador. Calderon, a former energy minister, won the election with 36 percent support.

The survey questioned 1,000 people in mid-April and has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points. (Reporting by Noel Randewich, editing by Philip Barbara)