All polls show that the French governing forces are gaining less and less support in the upcoming EU elections. This particularly applies to Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance party. The latest survey by the IFOP polling company shows that the party's support among the youngest voters barely reaches three per cent. This is not only a political failure, but also an image disaster, writes the international V4NA news agency.
Macron's party can rely on the elderly, with support for the Renaissance EP list polling at 31 per cent among over-65s, according to IFOP data, while the other parties of the French elite – Les Republicains at seven per cent, the Socialists at six per cent – do not enjoy the backing of young people.
The survey also reveals that young people say they are more patriotic than their parents. They stand up for the republic and believe that France is in a culture war. This is just the opposite of what Macron and his people have been preaching for years, which France's president summed up in one of his statements, saying:
There is no such thing as French culture, there is culture in France.
The right wing in France can count on 45 per cent of the young people, with Marine Le Pen's National Rally getting support from 35 per cent of young people, and Reconquete, headed by Eric Zemmour, and Les Republicains receiving three and seven per cent respectively.
Polls show that young people do not vote for extremist parties, but for those that can be associated with a certain hierarchy of values, views and principles. According to Polish publicist Dariusz Matuszak, Poland should be rooting for Macron's party to achieve the worst possible result. It was Valerie Hayer, the top candidate on this EP list, who spoke publicly on television about forcing Poland to take in illegal immigrants, among other issues.
According to Mr Matuszak, the EP elections could turn out to be a real disaster for Macron. If the Renaissance is indeed defeated as badly as the opinion polls suggest, this would effectively strip the president's party of the legitimacy to govern. Macron's party could be relegated to third place in the power rankings.
Discontent is growing
Growing Euroscepticism among young people is a phenomenon that is not unique to France. The "Jugend in Deutschland 2024" survey found that the younger generation is increasingly dissatisfied compared to survey results from previous years. In the wake of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, people's economic and political concerns about the future are also growing, with many worried about inflation, high rental fees, the Ukraine war and the military conflict in the Middle East, as well as social divisions.
According to the authors, it appears as if the coronavirus outbreak had left a thorn in people's confidence, reflected in their persistent and profound sense of insecurity.
In a political sense, respondents are increasingly turning towards the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. 22% of 14-29 year olds who have any party preference at all and would like to vote would be willing to cast their ballots for AfD. This is more than twice as many as two years ago.
There is a clear shift to the right among young people,
– sociologist Klaus Hurrelmann said. Compared with the 2019 youth survey, the social approval of accepting so many refugees has dropped from 57 percentr to just 26 percent. The popularity of the Greens among young people has decreased from 27 to 18 percent. The co-ruling Liberals' popularity fell from 19 percent to 8 percent in the survey, while the largest governing party, the Social Democrats, would only garner 12 percent among young people. The survey also found that the alliance of the Christian Democratic Union and the Bavarian Christian Social Union party improved from 16 to 20 percent among young people.
Cover photo: The fate of Europe could be decided in the polling booths in June (Photo: Belga via AFP/James Arthur Gekiere)
