New French poll shows Sarkozy well ahead of Royal

PARIS, May 4 (Reuters) French right-wing presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy has extended his lead over Socialist Segolene Royal ahead of Sunday's second round election, a new opinion poll showed today.

The TNS Sofres survey for Le Figaro daily showed Sarkozy at 54.5 per cent, up 2.5 percentage points from a previous poll, against 45.5 per cent for Royal, who was down 2.5 percentage points.

Le Figaro said the survey of 1,000 people was carried out on May 3, after Wednesday's television debate between the two.

Reuters AM DS1215