The head of state is in great difficulty in the polls, far behind Jacques Chirac and François Mitterrand at the same time. The Élysée is now betting on “the 100 days” and the roadmap unveiled by Elisabeth Borne this week to get its head above water.
A sad birthday. For the one year of Emmanuel Macron’s re-election, Emmanuel Macron’s popularity is at an all-time low. Far, very far from the figures of his predecessors François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac, a year after their re-election.
Only 26% of French people say they are “satisfied” with the action of the Head of State, according to a Ifop poll for the Sunday newspaper. This is one of his lowest levels since he arrived at the Élysée in 2017. The president only obtained a lower score in the midst of the Yellow Vests crisis. In November 2018, the leader was only credited with 25% favorable opinions, before reaching his lowest score a month later, with 23%.
The pension reform still does not pass
Mistrust of the President of the Republic increases just as much: 71% do not trust him, an increase of 8 points in just one month, according to an Elabe poll. Among these, 41% of them do not trust him “at all”. Here again, the head of state’s score has already reached worse levels, since more than one in two French people (51%) declared that they did not trust him “at all” at the end of 2018.
But the president’s very agitated walkabout in Alsace last Wednesday, between boos and jeers weakly nuanced by a few meager encouragements, gave a good idea of the atmosphere of the country in recent days.
After three months of protest in the street, the pension reform continues not to pass, ten days after its express promulgation. Nearly 7 out of 10 French people still say they are opposed to postponing the retirement age to 64, according to an Elabe poll for BFMTV.
“I should have gotten more wet”
If we compare the situation of Emmanuel Macron to that of his predecessors who were re-elected, the picture is just as gloomy: a year after his re-election in 1988, François Mitterrand collected 46% of favorable opinions according to Ifop. Jacques Chirac was himself very far ahead with 65% positive opinions in April 2003very supported in studies by his opposition to the war in Iraq.
Emmanuel Macron, however, keeps his head held high. “If we have to endorse unpopularity today, I will endorse it,” said the leader during his interview on TF1 and France 2 at the end of March.
“Perhaps I should have gotten more wet. (…) Perhaps the mistake was not to be present enough to give consistency and carry out this reform myself”, adds the president again. in a long interview Parisian this Monday morning.
Holland even lower
The head of state can however console himself by noting that he is far from being the most unpopular president of recent years: François Hollande had thus reached the sad record of 14% popularity in 2016, according to a JDD survey.
“There are French people who do not agree but we have not switched to a moment when the president and the citizens can no longer speak to each other”, wants to believe a regular at the Élysée with BFMTV. com.
The president now wants to turn the page on pensions and set a cap of “100 days” during his presidential address last week before taking stock on July 14. If the president developed his new priorities – education, school, health, work – he made no new announcement.
Elisabeth Borne, who is also unscrewing in opinion studies, will present her roadmap with a precise timetable this Wednesday after the Council of Ministers.
