France’s Macron sees popularity fall to 40 pct

PARIS – Agence France-Presse

French President Emmanuel Macron’s popularity rating slumped a further 14 points in August to hit 40 percent, following a sharp 10-point drop the previous month, according to a poll released on Aug. 27.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe also saw his popularity fall nine points over the same period, with 47 percent now satisfied with his performance, the Ifop poll carried out for the Journal du Dimanche newspaper showed.

Macron has seen his popularity plunge 22 points since the first Ifop poll published three months ago, when he enjoyed a rating of 62 percent just after his May 7 election win.

At this point in 2012, his socialist predecessor Francois Hollande had a much higher popularity rating of 54 percent while Nicolas Sarkozy boasted an even higher 67 percent in 2007.

In August, 36 percent of respondents said they were “somewhat satisfied” with Macron, down 11 points, and four percent were “very satisfied,” a fall of three points.

Macron, 39, who shot to power promising to overcome France’s entrenched right-left divide, has since come under fire for his labor reform program and budget and public spending cuts.

France’s youngest ever president is especially out of favor with civil servants after vowing to put a brake on their salary increases.