Image problems hurt Sarkozy's ratings: French poll

PARIS (Reuters) - Confidence in French President Nicolas Sarkozy is at its lowest since his May 2007 election, with voters dissatisfied with his style and the effectiveness of some of his key economic policies, a poll showed on Sunday.

A week before the first round of municipal elections, the LH2 poll for Liberation newspaper showed 37 percent expressed confidence in Sarkozy.

That compares with 41 percent in a survey a month ago and represents a steep decline from a high of 67 percent in July 2007. Sarkozy's ratings have slumped by 17 points since the start of the year.

The latest fall in Sarkozy's popularity chimed with other recent surveys and has been accompanied with a rise in Prime Minister Francois Fillon's ratings, which LH2 put at 53 percent, up from a low of 46 percent three months ago.

"Nicolas Sarkozy doesn't have a presidential image," said Francois Miquet-Marty, director of political studies at LH2.

Such a sentiment risks being reinforced by incidents such as Sarkozy cursing a critical bystander at a trade fair last week -- an outburst which was caught on film and widely viewed after being posted on the website of a French newspaper.

The LH2 poll showed almost three quarters of respondents felt Sarkozy did not exercise enough self control and put his private life on display too much, while two-thirds said he was too direct with people.

Sarkozy has presented his forthright style as a break with hidebound traditions and in keeping with his promise to inject new dynamism into the French economy.

But 54 percent of respondents said Sarkozy's personality did not tally with what they expected from the presidential office.

Voters expressed disquiet about substance as well as style.

Sixty percent said they did not believe Sarkozy was adequately fighting unemployment and 71 percent branded as ineffective his policies to raise households' purchasing power -- an issue which regularly features as voter's top concern.

Thirty-seven percent of those polled viewed the municipal elections as a chance to punish Sarkozy and his government, while 25 percent saw it as an opportunity to support them.

The poll surveyed 1,004 people on February 29 and March 1.

(Reporting by Swaha Pattanaik; Editing by Jon Boyle)