Presidential 2022: in Reims and Lille, the remote duel of Le Pen and Zemmour for the popular electorate

Two populist meetings, the same battle for the middle and working classes. On Saturday February 5, the two far-right champions played different roles, despite the ” We are at home “ and identical flags.

In Reims (Marne), at the Parc des expositions, where Marine Le Pen held her presidential convention, some 4,000 people had flocked from the four corners of France. The atmosphere was that of frontist fairs, tricolor balloons, rock bands and regional stands run by local Rassemblement national (RN) officials. The activists broke the crust in tables, delighted to meet for this first campaign meeting. “It’s family, appreciates an elected RN from Pas-de-Calais. Marine, she is the only one who speaks to the people back home, to the people. »

Galvanized by its militants who chanted ” Marine ! », the candidate led them to the parking lot, where a dozen buses bearing her image were parked, to symbolically launch her “5,000 markets” operation. At the rate of one visit per week, it will continue its outreach campaign over the next sixty days.

At the same time, the Grand Palais in Lille was filled with more than 6,000 people to offer Eric Zemmour a new show of force in sound and light. Here, the public was younger, more masculine, more affluent and inclined to assert themselves on the right. The entertainment was less traditional than at the RN, with a quiz with humorous claims centered on the candidate – is his favorite drink “leftist tears” Where ” the Red wine “ ?

fracture line

Between Lille and Reims, the two audiences contrasted. “Eric Zemmour has a sociology made up of radicalized cadets from good families; Marine Le Pen, employees and the unemployed”, depicts the pollster Jérôme Sainte-Marie by deliberately forcing the line. “Zemmour is the candidate of purchasing power, of those who have money, and who think that popular categories can be bought by values. Marine Le Pen fulfills the function of defending the interests of these popular categories, which will come to her like fish in a trap. » From a formula, the author of popular block (Cerf, 2021) illustrates the distinction between these two far-right-leaning electorates: “The zemmourist is in the dining room, the lepenist in the kitchen. »

On Saturday, the two candidates gave substance to this fault line. Eric Zemmour flattered the “heirs of generations of workers who did not spare their efforts”, the “immigrants” of Europe who have adopted “without complaining about the language of the French”. His way of celebrating effort and work. “Here more than anywhere else, the assistantship is an insult”, he asserted, denouncing “the socialist vision of poverty”. “According to them, if you are poor, then inevitably you would want to steal, loot, destroy and why not kill?, he stoked. It’s an insult to all those modest people who have always made a point of being honest. »

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