French President Nicolas Sarkozy rose in favorability polls for the way he dealt with the shootings in France this month, but that same good work has done little to help him as a candidate. As a contentious election season in France continues, Sarkozy has struggled to gain on frontrunner François Hollande, the Socialist candidate who leads by about 8 percentage points. The economy, experts said, is trumping everything else in the minds of French voters. Last month, the number of job seekers in France rose to 2.87 million, the highest number in 12 years.
