Macron ties Hollande as France’s least popular president in 50 years

French President Emmanuel Macron has become the least popular leader in France in the past half-century, according to a new survey released on October 30.

According to POLITICO, the poll, conducted by the Verian Group and published in the conservative newspaper Le Figaro, found Macron’s approval rating at just 11 per cent — equalling the lowest level ever recorded by the firm. The previous record-holder was his predecessor and former mentor, François Hollande, who also fell to 11 per cent in late 2016, shortly before deciding against running for re-election.

By Verian’s metrics, Macron and Hollande now jointly hold the record as the most unpopular French presidents since the early 1970s, when the company and its predecessors began tracking public opinion for Le Figaro on a monthly basis.

The latest figures reflect a broader trend among polling agencies showing Macron’s declining popularity, largely driven by widespread anger over his controversial pension reform that raised the retirement age, as well as the political turmoil that followed his decision to dissolve parliament after the far-right’s success in the 2024 European elections.

An Ipsos poll published earlier in October placed Macron’s approval rating at 19 per cent — higher than Hollande’s lowest score of 13 per cent recorded by the same firm in 2014. Meanwhile, an Odoxa survey released on Tuesday revealed that only 20 per cent of French citizens view Macron as a “good president,” leaving the 47-year-old only slightly ahead of Hollande in terms of public perception.

“Macron is constantly hooked on polls — he’d have to be blind or deaf not to notice how disliked he is,” a former presidential adviser told POLITICO, speaking on condition of anonymity. The same source added that Macron “has a poor grasp of the consequences his supposedly necessary reforms have on the country’s condition.”

The report also noted that such historically low approval ratings for French presidents are unusual. Analyses of public opinion show that the first three elected presidents of the Fifth Republic — established in 1958 — maintained far higher levels of popularity during their terms.

While Macron’s ratings have reached record lows, the decline in public confidence is not unique to France. Across Europe, dissatisfaction with national leaders is growing.

In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s approval rating stands just below 20 per cent, according to POLITICO’s Poll of Polls aggregator.

In Germany, Chancellor Friedrich Merz recently dropped to 25 per cent in a Forsa Institute survey for RTL and ntv released on October 28.

By Tamilla Hasanova