So, Nicolas Sarkozy is going thoroughly right wing and anti-Muslim:

Nicolas Sarkozy has stepped up his appeal to France’s far-right by lauding national identity, borders and French Christian heritage at a vast open-air rally in the shadow of the Eiffel tower.

………

Sarkozy’s alternative May day Labour rally, which he initially said was a defiant celebration of “real” work versus the traditional trade union marches, had caused a political slanging match in France.

A Communist newspaper and various commentators likened the president to Marshal Pétain, the leader of France’s Nazi collaborationist Vichy regime in the 1940s, for trying to appropriate the “values of work” for the right. His party slammed the parallels as shameful and disgusting.

(emphasis mine)

You have to understand: The French Republics (all of them) have had a tradition of militantly secular, as in, “If you get married in a church, it doesn’t count, do it again at the town hall.”

He doesn’t get why National Front Leader Marine Le Pen got so many votes.  While part of it is the fact that she puts a softer and more sophisticated edge on the right wing xenophobic message, the rest is because both Sarkozy and Hollande were perceived as being too EU friendly, and in particular, they are not fond of German hegemony in the EU.

Sorkozy does not get it:  He won’t get their votes in sufficient quality because he is Merkel’s toady, and Merkel’s frantic attempts to bolster his reelection efforts just makes it more obvious.