French President Nicolas Sarkozy's approval rating has dropped dramatically on the wake of growing discontent over his retirement reform, an opinion poll by the French Institute of Public Opinion (IFOP) issued on Sunday said.
The majority of the respondents (70 percent) said they were dissatisfied with Sarkozy's work and half of them - 38 percent, said they were "extremely dissatisfied". Only 29 percents said they were satisfied with Sarkozy, according to the poll.
It is among the lowest approval ratings of any French president in living memory, the Journal du Dimanche newspaper which published the survey commented.
The pollster has conducted the survey involving 1,828 French people between October 14 and October 22.
The controversial vote on pension reform was postponed twice, on October 15 and then 20, before the Senate eventually passed the bill on October 22. Sarkozy's supporters in parliament had urged him to give them at least one more week to debate the reforms, but the president refused, despite the growing public discontent.
Sarkozy earlier said that he had no other choice but to raise the retirement age in attempt to save the social security budget. Sarkozy said the retirement system was running out of resources to serve France's aging population.
MOSCOW, October 24 (RIA Novosti)
