French voters unswayed by Sarkozy-Royal debate

PARIS, May 3 (Reuters) A televised debate between presidential candidates Segolene Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy produced fiery exchanges but voters said today it had not been enough to change their minds.

Debates between the two candidates heading into the presidential run off ballot have become an institution in French politics, and many believe previous head-to-heads have determined the eventual winner.

But opinion polls show that up to 88 percent of voters had made up their minds before the debate, and those questioned in Paris said the sometimes ill-tempered affair simply comforted them in their existing opinion ahead of Sunday's run off vote.

''I thought she made a fool of herself. And I think Sarkozy kept his cool,'' said 45-year-old housewife Dominique Fargue, who said she planned to vote for Sarkozy, while shopping at a market in the Latin Quarter, home of the Sorbonne.

''She talks like a 50-year-old housewife. She doesn't speak better than I do. Nothing's precise,'' Fargue added.

Royal was surprisingly pugnacious in taking on a generally restrained Sarkozy but neither candidate delivered any of the kind of lethal oneliners or decisive gaffes likely to go down in political history.

At one point Royal, who has consistently trailed in opinion polls, attacked Sarkozy on the issue of disabled children in schools, prompting him to tell his opponenent ''you go off the rails very easily'' and she should ''calm down''.

Each side thought their candidate had come out on top.

''I thought that when she lost her cool she put her finger on something where he failed,'' book editor Sylvie Mouches, 42, said as she crossed the boulevard Saint-Germain, home to Royal's campaign headquarters.

CENTRISTS SPLIT The street passes through the fifth district of Paris, the area of the capital that gave the most support to defeated centrist Francois Bayrou in the first-round vote.

Bayrou's roughly 7 million voters, who make up about 19 percent of the electorate, have become the main battle ground for Sarkozy and Royal, and surveys have shown them almost evenly split between backing Royal, supporting Sarkozy and abstaining.

The debate did not seem to have upset that balance of power.

''I was rather for Sarkozy but I was trying to put that aside before the debate. I was counting on it to make up my mind. It persuaded me,'' said 21-year-old student Mathieu Cariteau, who voted for Bayrou, further along the boulevard.

Others fell back on their traditional preference.

''I'm from the left, so I'll go back to the left,'' said Bayrou voter Etienne Martel, 60, walking his dog.

Not everyone was impressed by the marathon clash, which lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes.

''It was a bit too long. It wasn't a debate of ideas as had been promised. They cut each other off a lot and kept trying to talk more than each other. It was more quantity than quality,'' said Royal supporter Camille Broucke, 22.

REUTERS RS RAI2043