Hollande gains support after Paris attacks

French President Francois Hollande used to be under fire for hesitant leadership and failure to fix economic troubles, but his handling of recent terror attacks could emerge as a political turnaround and help defend his statesmanlike role.

An Ifop survey for Paris-Match magazine issued on Monday showed France's most unpopular leader enjoyed an unprecedented poll boost after collecting favorable votes from 40 percent of the 1003 respondents, up by 21 points from December.

Hollande's popularity reached the highest level since 2013 thanks to his swift response to the attacks which targeted a satirical magazine, police and Jewish community several days ago.

"According to a large slice of French people, Hollande has well played his role of a statesman during a period of crisis and which required a national unity. It's an improvement that could help the president to silent critics over his inability to rule the country," said Bernard Sananes, director of CSA polling institute.

On January 7, the Socialist leader rushed to the headquarters of the the weekly Charlie Hebdo where two Islamist gunmen killed 12 people in the worst terror attack in decades.

A day after, another armed man opened fire against a policewoman. He also shot dead four Jewish during a hostage-taking in a Kosher supermarket in the French capital.

Presiding over a series of emergency security meetings, Hollande seemed well embodying the position of president by ordering swift mobilization of security units to track down the shooters and preserve the country's calm.

In an unprecedented show, the biggest since France liberation in 1944, Hollande led a high-profile rally to denounce terrorism and racism.

Before Paris shootings, Hollande had long been the pollster's most unpopular French leader on failure to ease economic woes with just 13 percent of people had positive opinions on the Elysee occupant.

But the fall-out from the shootings has brought out the president's political credentials after many have doubted his merits to lead the eurozone's second largest economy.

However, some also argue that the issue may not have a lasting impact on Hollande's approval ratings as economic headaches are still challenging the head of state.

"In order to enjoy a high popularity for a long time, Hollande should show that he really has changed and take into consideration people's concerns and expectations by taking the right measures, especially the economic ones," said Eric Bonnet, analyst at BVA pollster.

"Gradually, people will forget what happened in the previous days and their worries about unemployment and growth will reappear. With no concrete results, Hollande risks to see his popularity falling again," he told Xinhua.

In the past four decades, unemployment rate has been dogging French political scene.

In 1975, one million unemployed people forced Valey Giscard d'Estaing to quit the Elysee. With 2 million job-seekers, the socialist Francois Mitterrand accepted coalition with the Right wing in 1986 to secure a second mandate. Defeated Edouard Balladur in 1995, Jacques Chirac left office as joblessness jumped in 2002.

Speaking to the news channel BFMTV, a government official said "we could have a lasting and beneficial effect if we continue to well treat subjects... of defense of freedom and the fight against terrorism. But... is France able to give the best of itself in other areas?"

Originally targeting an economic growth of 1 percent in 2014, France slashed its growth target for the country's economy by 0.6 percent to 0.4 percent, blaming economic gloom in Europe.

Analysts said Paris needs to accelerate growth by 1 percent at least to digest more than 3 million job-seekers.

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