François Fillon Michel Spingler/AP Photo PARIS (Reuters) - Some 61 percent of voters have a negative opinion of French presidential election candidate Francois Fillon, according to an opinion poll carried out after the publication of allegations that he paid his wife for a fake job.

The Odoxa poll shows 38 percent have a good opinion of Fillon. That is a drop of 16 percentage points since a similar poll carried out in November, Odoxa pollsters said.

Satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine reported on Wednesday that Penelope Fillon had been paid some 600,000 euros ($641,640.00)for many years of employment as a parliamentary assistant to Fillon, then to his replacement as a lawmaker and also for work at a cultural journal.

Fillon denies any wrongdoing and has called the allegations "abject."

The poll was carried out online on Thursday among 1,012 people.