French President Emmanuel Macron’s approval rating dipped slightly as the country prepares to go to the ballot boxes in next weekend’s presidential runoff.
Macron’s approval rating fell to 41% in April, down from 42% a month earlier, according to an Ifop poll conducted for the Journal du Dimanche. He faces far-right National Rally candidate Marine Le Pen in the final round, in a rematch of their 2017 contest.
Macron is polling higher than his predecessors, Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy, did at the same point in their tenures, according to the poll. But he faces a tight race against Le Pen, with both candidates rushing to win voters who backed Jean-Luc Melenchon in the first round.
Macron vowed to end the use of fossil fuels during a campaign rally in Marseille on Saturday, in an effort to win over left-wing voters. Environmental issues were at the heart of Melenchon’s program.
But around half of Melenchon voters indicated that they would abstain in the runoff. The latest Ipsos-Sopra Steria poll showed that 33% of those who voted for Melenchon would back Macron on April 24 and 16% would support Le Pen, with the rest sitting out the final round.
Approval for Prime Minister Jean Castex rose 2 points to 41% in the Ifop poll.
Ifop surveyed 1,913 adults online and by phone from April 7 to 14. The margin of error is 2.2 points.
