(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Manuel Valls is the preferred presidential candidate of French leftist voters, according to a poll taken after President Francois Hollande announced he won't seek re-election.
According to the Ifop poll for Journal du Dimanche, 45 percent of French who describe themselves as leftist want Valls to be the left's candidate in next year's election, 25 percent prefer former Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg, and 14 percent opt for former Education Minister Benoit Hamon.
In a direct confrontation between Valls and Montebourg, Valls wins out at 51 percent.
Montebourg and Hamon have said they will run in the January primary being organized by the French left, and Valls is expected to announce his candidacy in the next few days.
The poll questioned 1,500 people on Dec. 2 and Dec. 3, which was then narrowed down to a sample of 542 people who said they generally voted for leftist parties. No margin of error was given.
To contact the reporter on this story: Gregory Viscusi in Paris at gviscusi@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.net, Claudia Carpenter, Chris Malpass
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