“This time it will be humanly impossible to vote for Macron”

Published on: 04/13/2022 – 17:32 In 2017, more than half of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s electorate blocked the far right. Five years later, voters on the left seem more scattered than ever and many are unwilling or reluctant to slip in a Macron ballot in the second round of the presidential election. They will be the arbiters of the second round of the presidential election: left-wing voters are already at the heart of all attention in this campaign between the two rounds. For Emmanuel Macron, who has a smaller reserve of votes on the right than Marine Le Pen, convincing on the left is even a necessity to be able to win. However, according to a poll carried out on April 10 by the Ipsos Sopra Steria institute , the voters of France Insoumise are only a third to want to ensure the re-election of the head of state against Marine Le Pen, against one in two in 2017. At Benoît Hamon, they had even been more than 70% to slip in a “Macron” ballot. “In 2017, I very angrily slipped in a Macron ballot in the second round. This time, it will be humanly impossible to vote for him”, explains to France 24 Félix, 31, designer in Dijon, who plans to vote white in two weeks. Thierry, 36, had also made the “republican” choice to “block the far right” five years ago. “But this year, I will not vote in the second round because I think it is too much time. We are just being offered to choose between the plague and cholera”, adds this sympathizer of France Insoumise.“ For my part, I am convinced that Le Pen is much worse than Macron, but at the same time I totally disagree with his politics. I really feel like my arm is being twisted,” breathes Coraline, 38. years old, editor in Bordeaux, who says she is faced with a real “case of conscience” and is reluctant to vote white on April 24. violence”, “the absence of social dialogue” with the point of no return being the treatment reserved for yellow vests. Five years of “authoritarianism” and “class contempt” which, according to them, would have favored the strengthening of the far right. “It has been five years since Macron explained that Marine Le Pen is his only enemy. It was he who wanted to establish this progressive-conservative divide and he did it very well,” said Félix. Abstention, which would potentially benefit Marine Le Pen, “is a weighed risk,” assures Thierry. unfortunately it passes, it will never have a majority in the National Assembly. In the end, LREM will still be in power”. In this context of distrust of the outgoing head of state, the republican front intended to block the far right seems never to have been so fragile. If the vast majority of unsuccessful candidates called for a vote for Emmanuel Macron, or at least no vote for Marine Le Pen, “the directives of the national staffs have little weight on the behavior of voters”, recalls Claude Weill, columnist for Nice Matin, on the antenna of France 24.According to several polls, between a quarter and a third of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s voters could even vote Marine Le Pen. -candidate within part of the left-wing electorate, Marine Le Pen is trying to form an anti-Macron front in this campaign between the two rounds.During her speech, the evening of her qualification, the candidate of the Rassemblement national notably invited “all those who i did not vote” for Emmanuel Macron to “join her”. “Personally, I will not vote for Marine Le Pen because of the history of her party which has advocated racism and xenophobia, but I understand that people say to themselves: at least at Marine Le Pen, there is a social component in its program”, affirms Éric, 55, who will abstain in the second round. “In 2017, I could believe that Macron was perhaps better than Le Pen. Today, I wonder who is the worse of the two”. Emmanuel Macron trapped in the “at the same time” In an attempt to mobilize on the left, the presidential candidate multiplies the signals sent to the popular electorate. Emmanuel Macron even agreed to “move” on his retirement age project at 65 and opened the door ajar at a retirement age of 64. A concession that could appeal to others in this between-two rounds. But the bet is risky for the outgoing president. Forced to soften his program to avoid antagonizing left-wing voters, Emmanuel Macron must also spare the right-wing electorate, who overwhelmingly voted for him in the first round. “There will be choices to be made”, summarizes Jérémie Peltier, director of studies for the Jean Jaurès foundation. “Can the right-wing electorate of the first round consider a denial as worth abstaining for the second round or do we have to go and get the voters who voted Jean-Luc Mélenchon?” “The useful vote (in first round) brought people who are not Mélenchonists to Mélenchon’s candidacy: disinherited socialists or disappointed ecologists. In this fringe there, it will be easier to vote against Marine Le Pen than the really hard faction of France Insoumise”, analyzes for his part Claude Weill.>> Pensions at the heart of the presidential election: but how does the French system work? However, the strategists of the campaign of the Head of State know that words will not be enough to convince the most reluctant to slip in a Macron newsletter. “If he gives up some of these key measures such as retirement at 65 or the conditioning of the RSA, that could make me think,” recognizes Eric. “There should be clear commitments, particularly on ecology, but we are very far from it”, agrees Félix. For others, on the other hand, the break is complete and the choice final. “As far as I’m concerned, I’ll never change my mind,” explains Thierry. “I no longer have any confidence in Emmanuel Macron”.