Instead, she has stressed pocketbook issues that resonate well with not only her voter base but also Macron’s.Ĭonversely, Macron has moved to the right on some issues to try to steal some of Le Pen’s thunder and keep abreast of a general rightward shift by the French electorate. On the campaign trail, Le Pen has played down earlier demands to end immigration, leave the European Union and ban the Muslim head scarf in public places. 24 invasion of Ukraine, but as the war has dragged on for two months, initial enthusiasm for his diplomacy on the world stage has subsided. The president got a brief bump in the polls over his statesmanlike role before and after Russia’s Feb. Many of those struggling economically say Macron is out of touch, and a common gibe labels him the “president of the rich.” Once ensconced in the Elysee Palace, he veered to the right, alienating supporters on the left, and failed to deliver the environmental program that activists had hoped for. But in some quarters, disillusionment has set in.
Macron swept into office in 2017 promising a new kind of politics, appealing to voters on both sides of the political spectrum. Nonetheless, Le Pen’s first-round performance was seen as a wake-up call for the French political establishment. Since the initial vote this month, Macron has widened his lead, polling up to 12 percentage points ahead in some surveys.
“Never, in the modern history of France, never has a candidate from the extreme right gotten so close to power,” said Vincent Martigny, a professor of political science at the University of Nice.
She and Macron were the two top vote-getters in the April 10 first-round vote, separated by fewer than 5 percentage points. The commentary did not mention either candidate by name but referred to oneĪs a “democratic” politician who supports a “powerful and autonomous European Union” and the other as an “extreme-right candidate who openly sides with those who attack our freedom and democracy.”Īnalysts say that simply by being a more viable candidate in Sunday’s rematch than she was five years ago, Le Pen has already achieved a significant victory. In a sign of their concern over what might happen in Sunday’s runoff, the leaders of Germany, Spain and Portugal published a column Thursday in several European papers urging French voters to back Macron.
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