Sarkozy's 1st Year in Office Disappoints Voters (Update1) 

By Francois de Beaupuy

April 23 (Bloomberg) -- About two-thirds of French voters consider President Nicolas Sarkozy a disappointment who has failed to fulfill his election campaign commitments after a year in office, a poll showed. 

Sarkozy's performance was ``rather'' or ``very'' disappointing to 72 percent of people who said he has failed to curb inflation and boost their purchasing power, the Ifop/Fiducial poll to be published tomorrow in Paris Match magazine also showed. Thirty-five percent said he has fulfilled his campaign commitments, and 65 percent said he hasn't done so. 

``Nicolas Sarkozy is paying a high price for the disenchantment progressively created by the first year of his mandate,'' said Jean-Luc Parodi, research director at the Paris- based National Foundation of Political Science, in a commentary sent with the Ifop poll by e-mail. 

France's inflation, stoked by surging energy and food costs, accelerated to 3.5 percent in March, the highest in at least 12 years, sending consumer confidence to the lowest on record. Sarkozy is banking on 9 billion euros ($14.3 billion) of tax cuts this year and deregulation in the labor, service and product markets to cushion the economy against the U.S. housing slump, record oil prices and appreciation of the euro. 

Purchasing Power 

Just 10 percent of the people polled by Ifop said Sarkozy's achievement on their purchasing power was positive. Thirty percent deemed his tax cuts as positive, 32 percent backed his actions to boost France's growth and attractiveness and 40 percent approved his achievement in reducing unemployment, Ifop said. Fifty-six percent credited him for fighting crime. 

Fifty-three percent of the people polled said Sarkozy's measures hurt their purchasing power, while 3 percent said there was an improvement, the polling company said. France's economic performance has deteriorated since Sarkozy's election last May, according to 48 percent of those polled, while 6 percent said it has improved. 

Fifty-eight percent said they didn't trust the French president to implement the ``necessary reforms,'' Paris-based Ifop said. 

Ifop polled 956 French people 18 and older by telephone on April 17-18. It didn't give a margin of error. 

A separate BVA poll to be published tomorrow in the La Tribune newspaper found eight out of 10 French people are pessimistic about the economic environment. Eighty-three percent of the respondents said they felt ``less confident'' about France's economic future, up from 72 percent in February, the poll showed. 

BVA polled 1,012 French people aged 15 and older by telephone on April 18 and 19. It didn't give a margin of error. 

To contact the reporter on this story: Francois de Beaupuy in Paris at fdebeaupuy@bloomberg.net. 

Last Updated: April 23, 2008 14:30 EDT