Two-thirds of French want Hollande gone : Poll

Nearly two-thirds of French people want beleaguered President Francois Hollande, who is grappling with record unpopularity, double-digit unemployment and a stagnant economy, to resign, a poll said Thursday.

But while 62 percent said Hollande should quit the top job, 61 percent thought he would remain France's leader until 2017 when his term expires, an Ifop poll published in Le Figaro Magazine said.

Despite a cabinet reshuffle following a sudden political crisis in August that forced him to replace three renegade ministers, as well as changing the prime minister earlier this year, Hollande's leadership has been increasingly
brought into question.

Fifty-four percent of those polled said they would like Hollande to dissolve the National Assembly lower house of parliament while 41 percent said they wanted him to change Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who has only been in
the saddle for five months.

On the thorny question of the economic malaise gripping the eurozone's second economy, 62 percent said Hollande's top priority should be to increase the purchasing power of ordinary French people struggling with 10-percent
unemployment.

Twenty-nine percent said he should further increase tax breaks and other fiscal concessions to companies and deepen spending cuts.

The poll was held on September 8 and 9 and involved 1,002 people.