PARIS – French President Emmanuel Macron’s approval rating continued to decline and has hit a six-year low, according to a poll by Ipsos for La Tribune Dimanche newspaper published on Sunday.
Down two points from November at 21%, Macron’s popularity has tumbled close to its low point of 20% from December 2018, when the country was rocked by the Yellow Vest protests, the survey showed.
The president’s approval rating has dropped by 12 points since he called for snap legislative elections in June, which resulted in a deeply divided National Assembly and triggered a political deadlock over this year’s budget.
Macron’s latest prime minister, Francois Bayrou, appointed in December after the previous administration was toppled by a no-confidence vote in parliament, starts the job with an approval rating of 20%, according to Ipsos. That’s the lowest of any of Macron’s six premiers since becoming president in 2017.
Bayrou is due to set out his political priorities in a speech to the lower house on Tuesday as he tries to win enough support to push through a new budget, with the fate of Macron’s unpopular 2023 pension reform in the spotlight in negotiations with opposition parties.
Ipsos surveyed 1,000 adults online on Jan. 8 and Jan. 9. The margin of error was about 2.5 points.
