Majority of French want Socialist Hamon to bow out of election race - poll

Benoit Hamon, French Socialist party 2017 presidential candidate, makes a statement at his campaign headquarters in Paris, France, March 29, 2017. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

PARIS (Reuters) - More than one in two French voters believe struggling Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon should drop out of the presidential race in favour of a rival left-winger who has overtaken him in surveys of voting intentions, a poll showed on Thursday.

The Harris Interactive poll was conducted after Wednesday's announcement by former prime minister Manuel Valls that he would join a growing number of fellow Socialists who refuse to vote for Hamon, their own party's official candidate.