While Sarkozy trails in all voter surveys ahead of the likely May 6 run-off against Hollande, the French by a 58 to 39 percent margin rate him better than his Socialist challenger on security issues, according an Ifop poll. The same poll showed that security was a major issue for 15 percent of voters, behind the economic crisis at 50 percent, unemployment at 46 percent, and government debt at 32 percent.

The Ifop poll for Le Monde involved 4,728 people questioned from Feb. 16 to 21.