"Now that he's hoisted himself up to the front row, voters listen to him differently and have expectations that he hasn't satisfied yet."

-- Dominique Reynié, professor at The Institute for Political Studies in Paris, speaking in today's Journal du Dimanche about the way François Bayrou has plateaued in the polls.

According to a national telephone poll of 1,000 registered voters conducted by TNS Sofres-Unilog for Le Figaro-RTL-LCI on March 21 and 22, and released yesterday, the current standings of the major candidates in the first round of voting for a field of 12 are:

Nicolas Sarkozy: down three points to 28 percent

Ségolène Royal: up 2.5 points to 26.5 percent

François Bayrou: down 0.5 points to 21.5 percent

Jean-Marie Le Pen: down one point to 11 percent

No other candidate polls more than 4 percent and three poll less than half a percent.

But the most important figure to note, as ever in these polls, is the quantity of respondents who say they could change their minds: 34 percent.

Photograph from Bayrou campaign site.