Emmanuel Macron does not want to confront his political opponents, candidates like him for the presidential election in April. But he wants to speak directly to the French. After his meetings with citizens of Poissy (Yvelines) and Pau, strongholds of his friends and allies, the mayors Karl Olive (ex-Les Républicains) and François Bayrou (MoDem), the Head of State complied with the questions from France Bleu listeners, Tuesday 22 March. An interview aimed at bringing the candidate, monopolized by the burning file of the war in Ukraine, into the daily life of the French. From « terrain » as the politicians like it, through a radio “like Pernaut”, from the name of the former presenter of the 1 p.m. newscast of TF1, associated with France “territories”underlines the director of the Ifop polling institute, Frédéric Dabi.
Organized on the occasion of the publication of the citizen diary “Ma France 2022”, listing the priorities of French people collected during a popular consultation, the exchange consisted of listening to Emmanuel Macron answer questions on probity in politics, purchasing power, tax evasion… Faced with Maryse, a baker, who regrets that we help ” the big enterprises ” more than « [eux] small traders, [les] forget it “, the presidential candidate defends himself by assuring that the country is one of those who help small and very small businesses (SMEs and VSEs) the most. And to reissue its intention to set up “food voucher” to help the poorest households fight inflation.
To Marielle, who is worried about the consequences of the shift in the retirement age to 65, Emmanuel Macron replies that“there is only one way” to maintain our pension system based on intergenerational solidarity, “it’s working longer”.
Break his image
But it was undoubtedly Yvonne, a nurse in Caumont-sur-Durance (Vaucluse), who destabilized the Head of State the most, not by her question but by her feelings. “Actually, I feel like the president who is our president, well he’s not there for us”she said, referring to the Ukrainian file which monopolizes Emmanuel Macron. “I have the impression that our president, he has a lot of work, surely, but perhaps in each area, health, etc., we are not close enough to us”, she insisted, accusing him of ” to not know [sa] life “.
A brutal judgment towards the Head of State who has been trying, since the movement of “yellow vests”, to break his image of a distant and Parisian man. But one observation does not cease to remind the tenant of the Elysée, underlined by various polls: Emmanuel Macron has a stature of a statesman superior to that of his far-right competitor, Marine Le Pen, but he is described as knowing less well the life of the French than her. However, if he is the favorite of the presidential election, Mr. Macron could face in the second round Mr.me Le Pen, who claims to “the France of the people, of rurality”, and not of “politics in white gloves or on a distant stage”as she said, on March 19, during a trip to Yonne.