Nicolas Sarkozy was declared the most unpopular president in French history in a poll on Sunday, ahead of the first round of elections next week.
Nicolas Sarkozy was declared the most unpopular president in French history in a poll yesterday (Sunday), ahead of the first round of elections next week.
He and his main rival vied to rally voters in mass, open-air speeches in Paris.
The capital's Place de la Concorde was transformed into a sea of red, white and blue, as Sarkozy implored France's "silent majority" for their support.
He wants them to confound forecasts that he will be trounced by Francois Hollande, a Socialist, in the run-off.
"They said you wouldn't come," Sarkozy told a crowd his camp put at 150,000 but which appeared to be less than half that size.
"Silent France has responded through your presence," he added, in a speech that attacked multiculturalism, teaching unions and Europe's open borders while defending families and hard work.
Five miles east, Hollande told his troops before the Chateau de Vincennes that the first Socialist presidential victory in 24 years was within their grasp.
"Nothing is going to stop us," the front-runner told a diverse crowd his camp put at 100,000, and which included several French singers and artists.
"I will be the president of a republic much stronger than the markets, a France stronger than finance," he said. "I will be a president of justice. Before taking any decision, I will ask myself: 'Is this fair?'?"
Sarkozy had promised a "historic" show of force in the square where he celebrated victory five years ago but it is also notorious as the spot where French kings had their heads chopped off.
The latest polls suggest Sarkozy will trail Hollande narrowly in the first round next Sunday, and lose the second round two weeks later by up to 14 percentage points.
Sarkozy has led a "carpet bombing" campaign, shifting from one theme to another and starting with a rebranding exercise to shed his "president of the rich" tag.
He cast himself as the only "captain" able to weather the economic crisis, telling the French they should emulate the Germans by injecting more flexibility into the labour market.
When that failed to strike a chord, he lurched Right to mop up National Front votes on themes like immigration, welfare abusers and keeping halal meat out of school canteens.
In recent days he has insisted that Hollande's spending plans risk turning France into a new Spain or Greece.
Despite his efforts, a newspaper poll for the Journal du Dimanche newspaper - the nation's oldest such survey - found that 64 per cent disapprove of him.
The figure is far higher than the 46 per cent disapproval rating in 1981 for Valerie Giscard d'Estaing, the last French president to fail to win a second term.
There was an air of resignation among supporters yesterday. "I thought he made a good and courageous speech, but I don't think it will change things as the gap is just two wide," said Bertrand Leblanc, 66, from Paris.
Hollande, seen as jocular and unassuming, is promising to "profoundly change" France to maintain the welfare state. He has pledged to reduce the deficit to zero by 2017, talking of raising taxes on the rich, but has offered few details on how to cut spending or create growth.
Yesterday, Sarkozy also suggested the European Central Bank should do more to promote growth - likely to put him on collision course with Germany.
A duel for third place is shaping up between Marine Le Pen, of the National Front, and her Left Front rival Jean-Luc Melenchon.
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