Emmanuel Macron, the French President ratings are nearing their lowest recorded level over his handling of pension reform and protests, a poll indicated on Tuesday.
The survey by the Odoxa polling group said only 30 percent of respondents thought he was a good president, down by six percentage points in a month, while 70 percent considered him negatively.
Macron’s favor is looming the low reached in December 2018 during the so-called “Yellow Vest” anti-government demonstrations, when only 27 percent of people held favorable views of the president.
Odoxa’s survey carried out for the Public Senat channel and regional newspapers showed declines for most of the French political class amid increasingly violent protests against the government’s proposal to increase the retirement age from 62 to 64.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen saw her favourability rating slump three percentage points to 32 percent, but the country’s most popular political leader, Macron’s first prime minister Edouard Philippe, skidded by seven points to 34 percent.
If Edouard Philippe falls again next month, it’s likely that for the first time in the history of our political trackers (meaning six or seven decades), we would have someone from the far-right at the head of our table.”
Odoxa said.
The survey showed that 71 percent of respondents preferred a referendum on increasing the pension age and 67 percent would vote against it, with opposition to the action relatively steady since the start of the year.
Further surveys have also confirmed a slump in Macron’s ratings as trash builds up in the streets of Paris due to a walkout by trash collectors and protesters blocking ports and refineries.
Tuesday marked the 10th day of national strikes and protests managed by trade unions since the start of the year. A poll by the BVA group revealed that 28 percent had a favorable view of the president, the lowest level since November 2018.
An Ifop group tracking poll showed 28 percent of respondents were pleased with the president, not far off the low of 23 percent reached during the “Yellow Vest” crisis. Even at these lower levels, Macron is still more popular than his predecessor Francois Hollande while he was in office.
Hollande, a Socialist, explored historic depths to a four percent approval rating after the publication of a fatal tell-all book that ended his hopes of pursuing re-election. Like his favorably contested predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, Hollande has leaped back since leaving office and now figures among the most-liked political figures in France.
