The survey by pollster IFOP, due for publication on Sunday in the Journal du Dimanche, showed that Hollande would win 59 percent of the vote in the second round of a two-stage general election, against 41 percent for Sarkozy.

In the same scenario, Hollande gained two percentage points since IFOP last led a similar survey in July, while Sarkozy shed two percentage points.

If Martine Aubry, the Socialist party leader, made it through to the second round of the April, 2012 election, she would win against Sarkozy with 54 percent of votes versus 46 for the incumbent.

In that scenario, Martine Aubry has progressed by one percentage point since July, while Sarkozy has fallen back by the same amount.

Hollande also pushed ahead of Aubry in the race for the Socialist party’s nomination at an October primary, gaining one percentage point since the July survey to 29 percent, versus an unchanged 25 percent for Aubry.

Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front, slipped back 1.5 percentage points to 18.5 percent in a hypothetical first-round vote, in third place behind Hollande, Aubry and Sarkozy.

The poll was led between Aug. 30 and Sept. 2 on a sample of 1,918 people aged 18 and up.