Macron’s popularity rating crashes to historic low

According to a Verian survey conducted for Le Figaro magazine, only 11% of French citizens approve of the 47-year-old centrist politician.

As reported by The Telegraph, this figure puts Macron alongside former Socialist President François Hollande, who reached the same approval rating in November 2016.

The Verian Institute has been conducting these surveys continuously since 1973. Only two French presidents from the Fifth Republic, established in 1958, were elected before that date — Georges Pompidou and Charles de Gaulle.

According to polls from that earlier era, neither was ever this unpopular.

The previous record low in Verian’s survey before the Macron-Hollande decline belonged to Jacques Chirac, who in July 2006, near the end of his second and final term, had a 16% approval rating.

The head of public opinion research at Verian said: “Emmanuel Macron is undoubtedly the most unpopular president of France’s Fifth Republic.”

He added that the main reason for public dissatisfaction, besides the “political fatigue” after eight years in power, stems from Macron’s decision to dissolve parliament and call a snap election in July last year, which led to a political deadlock, a hung parliament, and a budgetless France.

Most French citizens would like Macron to resign before the end of his second and final term in 2027, but he has ruled out that possibility.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s approval rating has risen by five points to 26% since his appointment on September 9.

Unlike the president, Lecornu enjoys strong support among people aged 65 and over (+7 points) and retirees (+9 points).

Political analyst Bruno Cautrès commented on the findings: “There is, of course, an underlying effect of widespread exhaustion among the French public.”

He warned that Macron’s popularity could soon fall below 10%, which would be unprecedented in France. According to Cautrès, such a drop would mark the moment when the “deep and structural disconnect” between Macron and public opinion becomes “complete.”