Most French disbelieve government able to restore confidence in 100 days

A total of 68 percent of French people did not believe the new government of Dominique de Villepin could win back confidence to the French within 100 days, according to a survey made for the French daily of Le Dimanche.

The poll Ifop showed that 41 percent of the respondents thought the goal would "probably" not be reached, while 27 percent thought it would "certainly" not be reached. Thirty-one percent of the questioned believed the government would reach this goal (25 percent "probably" and 6 percent "certainly"), and 1 percent did not give their opinion.

And 49 percent of the respondents believed new Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin would do the same as his predecessor Jean-Pierre Raffarin, 45 percent thought he would do better and 5 percent answered he would behave worse, with 1 percent of abstention.

As to Villepin's image, 78 percent used the word "dynamic", 71 percent said he was "competent", 56 percent thought he was an "undertaker of a project for the country", 51 percent thought he was "close to French people's concerns" and 46 percent said he was "capable to reassemble the French".

The survey was done on June 2 by telephone among 964 adults.

Source: Xinhua