Tainted? Voters prefer DSK to Sarko, says poll

[xchrom]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/Tainted-Voters-prefer-DSK-to-Sarko-says-poll/articleshow/9218030.cms

PARIS: Faced with a straight choice between Nicolas Sarkozy and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 54% of French voters would vote for a man accused of attempted rape, a new poll indicates. Of all the scathing judgements heaped on Sarkozy in his four years as president, a BVA opinion poll published on Tuesday was the most damning. For the first time since May, when Strauss-Kahn was arrested in New York, French people were asked how they would vote if "DSK" happened to reach a two-candidate run-off against Sarkozy in the second round of the French presidential election next May.

Although Strauss-Kahn's rating dropped sharply from his commanding, pre-arrest position, 54% of those questioned said that they would still vote for former IMF chief rather than for than the incumbent, Sarkozy. This was, almost certainly, a ringing vote of no-confidence in Sarkozy rather than a genuine declaration of support for Strauss-Kahn.

In another poll, taken by Ipsos on the same dates, 61% of those questioned said they would not want the one-time frontrunner Strauss-Kahn to run, even if he is cleared of the charges of sexual assault and attempted rape.