EXCLUSIVE SURVEY – Pécresse dethrones Sarkozy as the favorite personality of right-wing supporters – Les Échos

A candidacy for the supreme office is, beyond the voting intentions, a change. A change of image in the eyes of public opinion. In this regard, it is an understatement to say that Valerie Pécresse takes advantage of his victory at the Congress of Republicans , who made him the banner-bearer of the right in the presidential election. The rating of the patron saint of the Ile-de-France region soars by 12 points over one month in the Elabe barometer for “Les Echos” and Classic Radio (1), 36% of French people now have a positive image of it (against 38% of negative opinions).

For the first time, she climbs on the podium of the ranking of political figures, behind Edouard Philippe and Roselyne Bachelot, the popular Minister of Culture. Among the only supporters of the right, it is the great leap forward: an increase of 20 points, to 82%, which allows him to prance in first place with 10 points ahead of Nicolas Sarkozy. This is still unheard of for her.

“It benefits from an effect of novelty and surprise in the general public. The French discover a personality which was known but not overexposed and poorly identified, ”analyzes Bernard Sananès, president of the Elabe Institute. She is also “boosted” by the renewed hope of the “right-wing people” after two successive defeats in the presidential election, including a scathing elimination in the first round in 2017. Among the former voters of François Fillon, she gained 22 points out of one months, at 83%.

Learning from the mistakes of the former Prime Minister, who for a while disappeared from radar screens and treated her former rivals with contempt after her victory in the 2016 primary, Valérie Pécresse was omnipresent throughout the week ( Thursday, she criticized Emmanuel Macron on Europe) and especially multiplied the pledges of rally (she was on the ground with Michel barnier Thursday before displaying with Xavier Bertrand this Friday). “It will be necessary to see if the dynamic is maintained in the coming months but its political sequence has been particularly successful”, notes Bernard Sananès.

Although remaining at a relatively low level among young people and workers, the image of the candidate improves in all social categories and in all political sensibilities of the electorate. Without there being any notable difference between men and women. She climbs by 9 points on the left (to 28%) and by 16 points among supporters of En Marche and the Modem (she is the only opposition figure there to exceed the 50% mark of good opinions). Among those over 65, who constitute the heart of the right-wing electorate, she is in second place (behind Edouard Philippe) at 48%.

Zemmour struggling to the right

the battle finalist from LR congress , Eric Ciotti, and the president of the party, Christian jacob , are also experiencing a dynamic, their rating on the right increasing respectively by 11 and 9 points. That of Eric Zemmour , on the other hand, continues to crumble. Victim of the incarnation of the LR candidacy and the tone of his own campaign, the far-right polemicist, who launched his political movement , is down 4 points over one month and 13 points over two months on the right (when it scores points among RN sympathizers). In the electorate as a whole, he occupies sixteenth place, with 23% good opinions but 64% bad (and even 53% very bad). A record rejection.

(1) Survey carried out online on December 6 and 7 with a sample of 1,480 people representative of the French population aged 18 and over, according to the quota method. Depending on the percentage analyzed, the margin of error is at most 2.5 points.