Three weeks ahead of the first round of voting in the French presidential election, a record number of voters are thinking of abstaining, testimony to widespread frustration with a lack-lustre campaign.

An Ifop poll Sunday said 32 percent of voters could abstain in the first round -- a record, up three percentage points compared to two weeks ago.

Political analyst Vincent Tiberj, writing in the left-leaning Le Monde daily, suggested that voters were bored with the campaign that had "failed to live up to its promises".

Neither President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has yet to announce his manifesto ahead of the April 22 first round of voting, nor Socialist Francois Hollande, his main rival whose early lead over Sarkozy is slipping, have excited much passion.

With neither candidate likely to win an outright majority in the first round of voting, a second round, with just two candidates, will take place on May 6.

But fewer than half of voters (43 percent) look forward to that straight fight, according to the Ifop poll published by the Journal du Dimanche on Sunday.