Poll: Hollande most unpopular in 30 years

PARIS, March 1 (UPI) -- Francois Hollande is the most unpopular president of France in three decades, a poll for the right-leaning Le Figaro newspaper reported.

Confidence of the French people in Hollande's leadership has dropped 5 percent since January to 30 percent, the poll conducted by TNS Sofres found.

It found 66 percent of people surveyed had lost confidence in Hollande, The Local.fr reported Friday.

A boost Hollande got at the start of France's intervention in Mali has disappeared, the report said.

The last president to have such negative poll numbers in his 10th month in office was Francois Mitterrand in 1981.

Other polls have found a similar drop in Hollande's popularity, but not to the same dramatic levels.

Hollande, a member of the Socialist Party, won election in May 2012 with 51.7 percent of the vote.

Emmanuel Riviere, a director at the polling company, said Hollande's falling popularity was caused by the country's economic woes and rising unemployment, which are at the forefront of the French public's concerns.

The survey was conducted Monday and Tuesday, with about 1,000 people participating. No margin of error was given.