Socialist Hollande leads Sarkozy in polls French President Nicolas Sarkozy awaits the arrival of German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Elysee Palace before a working lunch together in Paris on December 5, 2011. The heads of the eurozone's two largest economies met to discuss a master plan for all 27 EU leaders to agree on at an emergency summit in Brussels later this week. PARIS, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy is lagging behind socialist Francois Hollande in polls for the upcoming presidential election, officials said. Sarkozy's popularity, however, did raise a percentage point after he officially declared Wednesday he is running for re-election, even though he is still 10 to 20 points behind Hollande, The Daily Telegraph reported. Yet experts say Sarkozy has a shot at re-election. "In the polls there are still a large number of electors who say they could still change their minds ... nothing is decided," Pascal Perrineau, a director of research at Sciences Po, said, adding Sarkozy is very much "still in the game." Sarkozy opened his campaign headquarters Saturday and named Ecology Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet as his spokeswoman, Radio France Internationale reported. Sarkozy strategically opened his modestly sized office in a middle-class neighborhood of Paris. "This is a middle-class area and these are the people I first want to address," he said.