French Socialist Hamon's Support Drops Into Single Digits

(Bloomberg) -- French Socialist presidential candidate Benoit Hamon saw his support drop into the single digits for the first time, underlining the challenge he faces in turning around his campaign with just over three weeks to go until the first round of voting.

Only 8 percent of voters now plan to cast their ballot for Hamon in the first round of the presidential election April 23, according to an Odoxa poll published by Le Point magazine Friday. That's down 4.5 points in less than two weeks.

Hamon may represent France's oldest political party, but his polling numbers have been on the slide since the party's primary in January and he's now languishing in fifth place. On his left he's been overtaken by Communist-backed Jean-Luc Melenchon and in the center he's seen a steady stream of Socialists endorse independent Emmanuel Macron.

“The old political forces are dying in front of our eyes,” said Pascal Perrineau, a professor at Sciences Po in Paris.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Deen in Paris at markdeen@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, Flavia Krause-Jackson, Caroline Alexander