Majority of people in France now dissatisfied with Macron - poll

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Majority of people in France now dissatisfied with Macron - poll

By Sudip Kar-Gupta

 

French President Emmanuel Macron reacts during a joint news conference with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov at Euxinograd residence, near Varna, Bulgaria, August 25, 2017. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov

 

PARIS (Reuters) - Most French voters are now dissatisfied with Emmanuel Macron's performance, a poll showed on Sunday, a dramatic decline for a president who basked in a landslide election victory less than four months ago.

 

The poll, conducted by Ifop for newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD), showed Macron's "dissatisfaction rating" rising to 57 percent, from 43 percent in July.

 

Forty percent expressed satisfaction with the centrist leader - down 14 points from July.

 

French government spokesman Christophe Castaner said the ruling party was going through a tricky time, but added that displeasing some people was a price worth paying if the government wanted to push through reforms.

 

"Yes, we are encountering difficulties, but you cannot just spend your time only looking at polls when you're in government. We are there to transform the country. Our country needs us to take risks, and we are taking risks," Castaner told BFM TV.

 

Macron, for his part, spent Sunday holding a telephone dialogue with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan, in which the two discussed the Syria and Middle East crisis and the fate of a French journalist detained in Turkey.

 

Macron has pushed himself onto the international stage since winning power in May. He hosted high-profile visits from Russian leader Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump and he is midway through a series of visits to various European capitals.

 

However, he has suffered some setbacks at home, including tough debates in parliament over labour reforms, a standoff with the military and cuts to housing assistance.

 

Social media commentators and political opponents criticised the president after it emerged he spent 26,000 euros ($31,000) on makeup during his first 100 days in office and his office also backed down on plans to give his wife a formal, paid role after a public backlash.

 

Bernard Sananes, head of French polling company Elabe, said the latest survey could encourage Macron's political opponents, after his party won a commanding majority in parliament.

 

"It could mean, for the government, that the opposition mobilises itself again," Sananes told BFM TV.

 

The Ifop poll showed the cumulative drop in Macron's popularity ratings since May was bigger than that of previous Socialist president Francois Hollande over the same period.

 

The poll also showed a drop in popularity for Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, with 47 percent expressing satisfaction with him - down 9 points from last month.

 

Macron, France's youngest leader since Napoleon, faces a big test next month when the far-left CGT trade union leads a rally to protest against plans to deregulate the jobs market.

 

"Now is the key time, with the labour executive orders to be presented," said Francois Savary, chief investment officer at Geneva-based investment firm Prime Partners. ($1 = 0.8386 euros)

 

(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Pineau and Myriam Rivet; Editing by Keith Weir and David Evans)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-08-28

[colinneil]

Majority of people in France now dissatisfied with Macron.

Well they voted in a big girls blouse, who spends more money on makeup than most people spend on food.

[kotsak]

[FreddieRoyle]

This buyers remorse is quite delicious. With the demographic destruction of France as we know it, there is no chance of a government that acts in French nationals best interest - ie the National Front winning any future elections. We all know where and what France will be in a couple of decades time.

[bristolgeoff]

They voted instead of le pen getting in.now they regret it now.just like previous ones.where is my makeup dear

[bert bloggs]

You voted for a man who spends more on his makeup than his mum spends on wigs , and wait till next month when the unions thrash him , does he think that he can beat the French workers into working more than a 35 hour week ? dream on .

[inThailand]

France join the club of bad presidents. Members include the US, Canada and Germany.

[kamahele]

21 minutes ago, inThailand said:

France join the club of bad presidents. Members include the US, Canada and Germany.

Not quite sure what makes the leaders of Canada and Germany "bad".  Poll numbers might be down but both still incredibly popular.

 

[Tchooptip]

33 minutes ago, inThailand said:

France join the club of bad presidents. Members include the US, Canada and Germany.

 It is not a private club it seems the USA is applying too

[MisterTee]

4 minutes ago, Tchooptip said:

 It is not a private club it seems the USA is applying too

The USA doesn't need to apply... it is one of the founding members.

[inThailand]

11 minutes ago, MisterTee said:

The USA doesn't need to apply... it is one of the founding members.

Along with military run governments!

[mfd101]

Reforming the French economy must be one of the harder jobs in the world (like reforming the Usofan electoral systems or changing Australia's constitution).

 

If you don't make mistakes, it's because you're not doing anything. If half the population isn't in uproar, it's because you're not doing anything useful.

 

 

[Kinnock]

The French need to use the Thai poll system - gets much better results.

[Scott]

Troll post removed.  

[iReason]

3 hours ago, FreddieRoyle said:

We all know where and what France will be in a couple of decades time.

"We all know"

Where and what will France be in a couple of decades time, Nostradamus?

[retarius]

Well that didn't take long did it? Maybe the $10,000 bill for make up made people wonder what sort of man he is. Kinda like Sarkozy's shoes that made him look taller.

[Baerboxer]

50 minutes ago, retarius said:

Well that didn't take long did it? Maybe the $10,000 bill for make up made people wonder what sort of man he is. Kinda like Sarkozy's shoes that made him look taller.

 

Well he married his former drama teacher so perhaps they need that make up for family productions?

 

 

[KunMatt]

7 hours ago, bert bloggs said:

You voted for a man who spends more on his makeup than his mum spends on wigs , and wait till next month when the unions thrash him , does he think that he can beat the French workers into working more than a 35 hour week ? dream on .

That's not his mum, that's his wife but it's easy mistake to make.

[ilostmypassword]

9 hours ago, FreddieRoyle said:

This buyers remorse is quite delicious. With the demographic destruction of France as we know it, there is no chance of a government that acts in French nationals best interest - ie the National Front winning any future elections. We all know where and what France will be in a couple of decades time.

The kind of knowledge that comes from being mathematically inept.

[Stargeezr]

Germany has factories, and wineries. France has wineries, and what else, is that why they do not think alike?  Did not take long for this guy to become unpopular, is he following

Trump?

Geezer

[Damrongsak]

If I were a "centrist" leader, I'd want to have at least 60-70% of each side hating me so I knew I was doing a proper job. 

 

As for haircuts, I've never gone to a barber or hair cutting place in my life of 63+ years. 

[Kiwiken]

Making Housing unaffordable and driving down wages, lengthening working hours to make France great again will only make the rich richer. No long term improvement will be made. Just more misery. Welcome Milton Friedman

[manarak]

Macron does a lot of (good) talking, but he has yet to do anything.

 

 

[mfd101]

1 hour ago, manarak said:

Macron does a lot of (good) talking, but he has yet to do anything.

 

 

It's because he's TRYING to do that his popularity has fallen. On the whole, a good sign.

[bert bloggs]

16 hours ago, KunMatt said:

That's not his mum, that's his wife but it's easy mistake to make.

Sorry , i didnt know it was his granny 

but lets face it in Britain a teacher gets 5 years in prison for running away with a girl ,in France the "girl" becomes first lady ,you couldnt make it up .

[simple1]

3 hours ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

Germany has factories, and wineries. France has wineries, and what else, is that why they do not think alike?  Did not take long for this guy to become unpopular, is he following

Trump?

Geezer

Likely being flippant, but France has the world's 7th largest economy, with sophisticated manufacturing, and a good standard of living. Macron inherited economic problems and as mentioned above has major challenges taking on the unions for work practices cultural change. Personally I wish him well, electing FN would have been an economic disaster for France.

 

I'll be visiting France in a few months, looking forward to a fun and interesting time - beautiful country.

[Opl]

4 hours ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

Germany has factories, and wineries. France has wineries, and what else, is that why they do not think alike?  Did not take long for this guy to become unpopular, is he following

Trump?

Geezer

 

 

 

What else ?  

[Stargeezr]

Impressive! So why is France not as rich as Germany?

 

[Opl]

12 minutes ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

Impressive! So why is France not as rich as Germany?

 

Germany ranks 4th - France 6th - to give you an idea... Canada 10th 

regarding polls : changing the situation will take more than a few summer months. To make definitive judgment after three months of summer is absolutely ridiculous and manipulative. To deeply reform a country like France, where people criticize everything, are never happy and sit on their privileges, we need a president who is somewhat authoritarian - The important thing is not the mood of the moment of the French 

[Aforek]

6 hours ago, Opl said:

Germany ranks 4th - France 6th - to give you an idea... Canada 10th 

regarding polls : changing the situation will take more than a few summer months. To make definitive judgment after three months of summer is absolutely ridiculous and manipulative. To deeply reform a country like France, where people criticize everything, are never happy and sit on their privileges, we need a president who is somewhat authoritarian - The important thing is not the mood of the moment of the French 

As a French guy, I totally agree with you ... let him time, the mood of French is not important, polls don't show anything, you can't be approved when you take unpopular but necessary decisions