Nearly two-thirds of French voters want François Hollande, the unpopular Socialist president, to admit defeat and resign, an opinion poll showed on Thursday, reports The Telegraph.
The poll by Le Figaro newspaper, which came as France's economic woes deepened and Mr Hollande's reputation continued to suffer from the release of Valérie Trierweiler's memoirs, indicated growing disillusionment even among Socialist voters. Nearly a quarter of the party's supporters now want Mr Hollande to step down, it found.
However the majority of the French believe Mr Hollande will disregard public opinion and cling to power until his term ends in 2017, according to the survey.
Mr Hollande has vowed to weather the storm, saying: "No poll, no political turmoil will make me go."
The survey by IFOP, one of France's leading pollsters, came as many middle-class French people complain that they are struggling to pay soaring income taxes, which are due on Monday.
Le Parisien described the situation as a "fiscal overdose".
"Hit by tax increases, many taxpayers are asking to pay late or in instalments," the newspaper reported.
It followed the release of figures showing that the economy is continuing to stagnate, while the budget deficit is widening. The finance minister, Michel Sapin, announced this week that France would fail to fulfil the latest in a long series of promises to its European Union partners to reduce its deficit. He made yet another pledge to reach EU targets by 2017.
Read more of this report from The Telegraph.