Macron with British Prime Minister Starmer (left), who is also widely disliked

Henry Samuel – The Telegraph Oct 30, 2025

Emmanuel Macron’s popularity has dropped to the lowest level of any French president in the Fifth Republic, according to a poll released on Thursday.

Just 11 per cent of the French public approve of the embattled 47-year-old centrist, according to the Verian poll for Le Figaro Magazine.

That puts Mr Macron on a par with his Socialist predecessor François Hollande, who hit the same figure in November 2016.

The Verian poll has been running continuously under various guises since 1973. Only two French presidents of the Fifth Republic, founded in 1958, were elected before that date – Georges Pompidou and Charles de Gaulle.

Neither was anywhere near that unpopular, according to other polls around at the time.

The lowest previous approval rating for the same poll before the Macron-Hollande slump was Jacques Chirac, who hit 16 per cent in July 2006 at the end of his second and last term.

“Emmanuel Macron is without doubt the least popular president of the Fifth Republic,” concluded Eddy Vautrin-Dumaine, in charge of public surveys and opinion polls at Verian.

As well as political “wear” after eight years in power, Mr Vautrin-Dumaine said the main source of disapproval sprang from Mr Macron’s decision to dissolve parliament and call snap elections in July last year, prompting political deadlock, a hung parliament and a budget-less France.

“They still do not understand. They resent him for taking a decision that led to a political crisis, which also affects France’s image abroad,” he told The Telegraph.

“They also resent him for exercising power in a way that is increasingly disconnected, solitary, with a president whom they understand less and less and who tends to be increasingly closed-minded, obstinate, narrow-minded and completely out of touch with the issues that concern the French people.”

“The link between the president and the French people today has been broken.”

‘It’s the man himself who is rejected’

Mr Hollande’s previous record low prompted him to throw in the towel and not run for a second five-year term, paving the way for Mr Macron to take a tilt for the Elysée.

A majority of French people would like Mr Macron to resign before the end of his second and last term, which ends in 2027, but he has ruled this out.

While the French disapproved of Mr Hollande as an ineffectual “Mr Normal”, overall enmity for Mr Macron is far higher. Around 60 per cent vehemently opposed the Socialist ex-president, while the figure rises to 75 per cent for Mr Macron.

“With Emmanuel Macron, it’s the man himself who is rejected. It’s the way he does politics, but it’s also his inability to talk to the French people, to understand them, to show empathy,” said the pollster.

Down five points from the previous poll in September, Mr Macron has suffered a particularly sharp drop among the over-65s and pensioners (9 and 11 per cent down respectively), previously his core electorate along with the urban, upwardly mobile.

“Now they trust him the least,” said Mr Vautrin-Dumaine. “Why? Because they are very sensitive to stability and continuity in politics and institutions.”

Mr Macron previously had credibility on economic and international issues. However, the country’s worrying debt and deficit issues, requiring a cost-cutting budget, have “clearly damaged this comparative advantage and ultimately the last bastion of credibility he had left”.

Mr Macron ‘unclear and unpredictable’

He is also losing his lustre as a statesman abroad.

“There is a feeling that he is unclear and unpredictable, and the perception that France does not count, even though he is trying to hold his own on the international stage,” said Mr Vautrin-Dumaine.

Conversely, his prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, has seen his approval rating rise by five points to 26 per cent since his appointment in September. Unlike the president, he enjoys the support of people aged 65 and over (+7 points) and pensioners (+9 points).

While Mr Macron has kept a small rump of supporters, those who back other members of his Ensemble alliance are dropping him in favour of Mr Lecornu.

“Whether you agree with Emmanuel Macron or not, today all French people, including those who support him or who may have supported him, think that he is actually part of the problem,” said Mr Vautrin-Dumaine.

France’s most popular political personality, according to the same poll, is Jordan Bardella, at 45 per cent. The 30-year-old head of the National Rally party is riding high in a week that has seen him release his second book, called “What the French Want.”

His mentor and party figurehead, Marine Le Pen, is in second place on 40 per cent despite her recent corruption conviction and five-year electoral ban.

Edouard Philippe, Mr Macron’s former prime minister and a presidential contender, is in third place on 30 per cent. He recently broke ranks and called for Mr Macron to step down early.

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