Emmanuel Macron is the most unpopular president in France in 50 years, a new survey shows, cited by “Politico“, reports News.bg.
The Verian Group survey, which included a poll of 1,000 people and published in the conservative daily Le Figaro, shows an approval rating for Macron of just 11 percent - the lowest figure ever recorded by the firm.
The previous record holder was his predecessor François Hollande, who reached the same percentage in late 2016, shortly before announcing that he would not run for a second term. The survey found that Macron and Hollande now share the title of France's least popular president since the early 1970s, when pollsters began conducting the monthly survey for Le Figaro.
Other pollsters have confirmed Macron's decline in popularity, following an unpopular decision to raise the retirement age and the political deadlock caused by his decision to dissolve parliament after the far-right triumph in the 2024 European elections.
An Ipsos survey published earlier this month gave Macron an approval rating of 19 percent, above the firm's lowest rating for Hollande of 13 percent in 2014. And an Odoxa survey published on Tuesday found that just 20 percent of respondents considered Macron a "good president," putting the 47-year-old head of state only slightly ahead of his predecessor.
“Macron is addicted to polls - he must be blind or deaf not to realize that he is not liked“, commented to “Politico“ a former presidential adviser, speaking anonymously. According to him, the president “has little understanding of the consequences that the reforms he believes are necessary could have on the country“.
The recent anger towards French heads of state is a historical anomaly. Surveys show that the first three presidents of the Fifth Republic, founded in 1958, traditionally enjoyed higher ratings.
In addition to the low results in France, Europeans' pessimism about Macron's leadership is also rising. By comparison, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's approval rating is just below 20 percent, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz recently hit a low of 25 percent, according to a survey by the Forsa Institute for RTL and NTV.