Macron with British Prime Minister Starmer (left), who is also widely disliked<\/p>\n
Emmanuel Macron\u2019s<\/a> popularity has dropped to the lowest level of any French president in the Fifth Republic, according to a poll released on Thursday.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n That puts Mr Macron on a par with his Socialist predecessor Fran\u00e7ois Hollande<\/a>, who hit the same figure in November 2016.<\/p>\n 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 \u2013 Georges Pompidou and Charles de Gaulle.<\/p>\n Neither was anywhere near that unpopular, according to other polls around at the time.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cEmmanuel Macron is without doubt the least popular president of the Fifth Republic,\u201d concluded Eddy Vautrin-Dumaine, in charge of public surveys and opinion polls at Verian.<\/p>\n As well as political \u201cwear\u201d after eight years in power, Mr Vautrin-Dumaine said the main source of disapproval sprang from Mr Macron\u2019s decision to dissolve parliament and call snap elections in July last year, prompting political deadlock, a hung parliament and a budget-less France.<\/p>\n \u201cThey still do not understand. They resent him for taking a decision that led to a political crisis, which also affects France\u2019s image abroad,\u201d he told The Telegraph.<\/p>\n \u201cThey 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.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe link between the president and the French people today has been broken.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Hollande\u2019s 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 Elys\u00e9e.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n While the French disapproved of Mr Hollande as an ineffectual \u201cMr Normal\u201d, 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.<\/p>\n \u201cWith Emmanuel Macron, it\u2019s the man himself who is rejected. It\u2019s the way he does politics, but it\u2019s also his inability to talk to the French people, to understand them, to show empathy,\u201d said the pollster.<\/p>\n Down five points from the previous poll in September<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n \u201cNow they trust him the least,\u201d said Mr Vautrin-Dumaine. \u201cWhy? Because they are very sensitive to stability and continuity in politics and institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Macron previously had credibility on economic and international issues. However, the country\u2019s worrying debt and deficit issues, requiring a cost-cutting budget, have \u201cclearly damaged this comparative advantage and ultimately the last bastion of credibility he had left\u201d.<\/p>\n He is also losing his lustre as a statesman abroad.<\/p>\n \u201cThere 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,\u201d said Mr Vautrin-Dumaine.<\/p>\n Conversely, his prime minister, S\u00e9bastien Lecornu<\/a>, has seen his approval rating rise by five points to 26 per cent since his appointment in September<\/a>. Unlike the president, he enjoys the support of people aged 65 and over (+7 points) and pensioners (+9 points).<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether 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,\u201d said Mr Vautrin-Dumaine.<\/p>\n France\u2019s 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 \u201cWhat the French Want.\u201d<\/p>\n His mentor and party figurehead, Marine Le Pen, is in second place on 40 per cent despite her recent corruption conviction<\/a> and five-year electoral ban.<\/p>\n Edouard Philippe, Mr Macron\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\u2018It\u2019s the man himself who is rejected\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Mr Macron \u2018unclear and unpredictable\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n