Most French now dissatisfied with Macron, poll shows

PARIS (Reuters) – Most French voters are now dissatisfied with Emmanuel Macron’s performance, a poll showed today, marking a dramatic turnaround 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 at 57 per cent, 14 percentage points worse than Ifop’s last poll in July.

Forty per cent expressed satisfaction with the centrist leader – also down 14 points from July.

Macron, who is midway through a schedule of official visits to various European capitals, has suffered a number of setbacks since being elected, including tough debates in parliament over labour reform, a standoff with the military and cuts to housing assistance.

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

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