Poll: More Than One in Three French ‘Disappointed’ with Macron

A new poll has shown that the honeymoon for French President Emmanuel Macron may be over as more than one in three French say they are disappointed in his performance so far.

The poll, which was conducted by the polling firm Elabe on behalf of French broadcaster BFMTV, shows that 36 per cent of those surveyed felt let down by the young French leader. Only 14 per cent believed that Macron was doing a good job so far and 50 per cent said it was simply too early in his presidency to tell, L’Express reports.

When the poll is broken down by the political affiliation of those surveyed, it shows that the most resistance to Macron comes from supporters of far-left socialist politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon and backers of populist Front National leader Marine Le Pen.

The results are largely unsurprising as Mélenchon has previously slammed Macron’s proposals to reform France’s labour laws. Le Pen supporters made it clear they were opposed to Macron’s pro-European Union and pro-migrant policies during the second round of the presidential election earlier this year.

Supporters of the centre-right Republicans and the centre-left Socialists were much more cautious with a majority of both supporters saying that it was too early to call the Macron presidency a success or a failure.

The polling is the latest setback for Macron who has lost much of his initial support from earlier in the year. One poll showed that Macron is less popular than former president François Hollande was at the start of his first and only term.

By the time Hollande left power, his polling numbers were in the low single digits making him the least popular president in recent French history.

Many have attributed the fall in popularity to a number of factors including his cabinet which has been embroiled in scandals and various statements such as when he declared earlier this year that he would rule France like a “Roman god“.

Many in the French press have also become increasingly critical of Macron claiming that he has restricted press freedoms by demanding to be able to personally pick which journalists cover him and imposing other controls on the media.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com