A poll published by Odoxa Institute has revealed that French President Emmanuel Macron’s popularity has fallen to an all-time low – with 75 per cent of the French viewing him as a “bad” President.
“Emmanuel Macron has never been so unpopular during his seven years mandate, including during the height of the yellow vest unrest,” said Gaël Sliman, president of the poll agency Odoxa, which published the data on September 24.
Macron’s popularity started to decline just before the summer with a six-point drop and has continued to fall since then.
The “clarification” effort initiated by the President following the European Parliament elections in June and the dissolution of the French lower chamber in the same month has failed to restore his standing with the public.
“The two months of fruitless negotiations leading to the appointment of [French Prime Minister] Michel Barnier has not helped the President to rebound in public opinion, quite the contrary,” said Sliman.
During the closing ceremony of the Paralympics Games at the Stade de France, the audience heavily booed French President Emmanuel Macron. https://t.co/946ywHWiic
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) September 9, 2024
Currently, only 25 per cent of French people said they regarded Macron as a good President. According to data from Odexa, his support has shrunk to his core electoral base.
In the first rounds of the 2017 presidential election, he secured 24.1 per cent of the votes cast, about the same as the 25 per cent support he receives now.
Indeed, the poll shows that Macron’s strongest support comes from his original voters, with 89 per cent approving of his performance.
Even on the Right, he has become highly unpopular — 72 per cent of Conservative voters and 91 per cent of National Rally (RN) supporters said they disapproved of his leadership.
Macron is not the only one struggling in the polls; only 39 per cent of French people viewed Barnier favourably, marking the lowest approval for a prime minister under Macron.
In January 2024, former PM Gabriel Attal had a 48 per cent approval rating.
One factor many have said was contributing to Barnier’s unpopularity was the belief among 61 per cent of the French public that Macron, not Barnier, would continue to wield the real power.
It appeared voters had hoped their ballot in the general election would force a political “cohabitation”—where the President and PM came from opposing parties—but that has not materialised.
Barnier himself had acknowledged just that during a prime-time interview on French national television on September 22.
“We are not in a cohabitation,” he said, adding: “The parliamentary base that will accompany the government is made up of deputies and senators, many of whom have supported and accompanied the President of the Republic for the past seven years.”
Macron’s struggles could be seen as part of a broader trend among Western leaders such as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s left-wing coalition, which recently hit a record-low approval rating of just 3 per cent.
A poll by the Allensbach Institute, a German public opinion research institute, has shown that only 3 per cent of respondents believe the ruling left-wing coalition German Government is beneficial for the country, marking a new low. https://t.co/8rpLMV6QuE
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) September 20, 2024
