Election in France: why young voters are voting for Marine Le Pen

04/16/2022, 18:44 6 min. reading time

Emmanuel Macron won the first round of presidential elections in France. But it will be a very close contest between him and right-wing candidate Marine Le Pen. She has one advantage: young voters.

Marine Le Pen is a woman who likes to give wings. For example, she used an election campaign guise for scathing attacks on Germany and announced that she would end joint weapons projects if she won the presidential election. “Germany is the negation of French strategic identity,” she explained.

Le Pen is no longer planning Frexit or leaving the euro, but wants to join other nationalist politicians in turning the EU into a loose confederation of states. He relies on nuclear power and would ban wind turbines and dismantle them. And she wants more popular participation through referendums. Le Pen and Macron will face each other on April 24 in a second round that will decide the future president.

In poll, Le Pen sees young voters ahead

A program that appeals to many young French people. Even before the first round of voting, a YouGov poll found that 56% of 18-24 year olds would support Le Pen. According to polling firm Harris Interactive, the far-left Mélenchon won the majority of voters aged 18-24 with 34.8% of the vote, followed by Macron and Le Pen with 24.3 and 18% of the vote, respectively. . Le Pen received the largest share of voters aged between 25 and 34, at 30%. It is also ahead among 35-49 year olds.

Overall, however, Macron is more pro-people in France. According to polls, he is 53 to 55 percent – Le Pen at 45 to 47 percent.

But why does Marine Le Pen of the Rassemblement National (formerly the Front National) seem to have such an advantage among young voters in France?

One reason why Le Pen – but also the leftist candidate Mélenchon – has managed to attract so many young voters is, analysts say, the lure of the economic populism of Le Pen and Mélenchon and the rejection of status quo globalism.

Anger against the government and anti-establishment

Add to that a crisis in the cost of living and prices in France, and the widespread perception among French that Macron is a “president of the rich”, which could pose a major challenge for the incumbent.

The rise in popularity of candidates at the far end of the spectrum “is an expression of anger at the years of their lives lost due to the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns; part of this is an anti-establishment stance against the French government,” the statement reads. International Political Affairs expert Julien Hoez of CNBC.

“In addition, there are the generational, economic, employment and cultural stressors across French society that have been captured and armed by parties like the RN and LFI,” says Hoez, citing Le Pen’s Rassemblement National and La France Insoumise. from Mélenchon.

Macron and Le Pen – for some a choice between plague and cholera

At Le Pen, the change in its image also plays a role. Away from migration and national identity, towards cost of living and other social issues. In the current economic situation, this is being heard. Purchasing power and the cost of living are important issues for 58% of voters, according to an Ipsos poll published April 10.

Le Pen is gaining traction with the right campaign promises, such as energy tax cuts and leaving the current retirement age for the majority and lowering the retirement age for the young, while Macron wants to raise it.

A look at how young French people view their presidential election reveals a lot. “I didn’t sign up for the election,” a 23-year-old told Euronews ahead of the first round of voting. Another 21-year-old voter: “I don’t know which candidate to vote for.”

One advantage for Le Pen may be that young people in France perceive the choice between Le Pen and Macron as between plague and cholera. Angered by the results of the first round of the French presidential elections, students occupied buildings at the Sorbonne University in Paris. Students at the prestigious Sciences Po University in Paris also protested over the election. An online statement from university students says they refuse to accept a second duel between “the neoliberal and authoritarian Macron and the proven fascist Le Pen”.

“Macron or Le Pen, we’re screwed either way”

France’s youth in particular, many of whom supported leftist third-placed Jean-Luc Mélenchon, are disappointed by the election result. To stop Le Pen as president, many feel compelled to vote for Macron, although they do not agree with his increasingly conservative and liberal policies. “Macron or Le Pen, we’re screwed either way,” one young voter told France 24.

Another explains to the broadcaster: “More importantly, I don’t want to see Macron back in power, so for the second round I’m hesitating between voting blank and voting with Le Pen. Marine Le Pen is better than Macron on social issues.” right-wing extremist president doesn’t scare him, he says.

A 19-year-old student tells France 24 she won’t vote for Macron either – but not for Le Pen either. She will vote blank.

Young French people voted for Marine Le Pen in 2017

However, youth support for Le Pen has been around for several years – even during the last presidential election five years ago. Even so, Le Pen was seen as a candidate who could change things. “In France, research shows that the desire for ‘change’ is a key factor in young people’s support for Le Pen,” said Professor Jim Shields of the University of Aston in 2017.

Another reason why young people supported what was then Le Pen’s National Front, according to Shields, was that this young electorate could not remember the FN as an outside party when the party brought together some of the most radical elements of the French far right. .

Even so, youth unemployment and the low security of workers took advantage of Le Pen and hit the National Front. They played on the disappointment of voters from established, conservative and socialist parties.

Marine Le Pen is seen as France’s “liberator”

“We thought the right had failed because there was still high unemployment and more insecurity and social misery,” Gaëtan Dussausaye said in 2017, when he was the youth leader of the National Front. “So when we had the chance to vote for the left five years ago, we did. But President François Hollande ended up being just like ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy and nothing has changed.” Only Marine Le Pen will break 40 years of globalization, multiculturalism and brutal free-market policies that have damaged France.

Five years later, in this year’s runoff, the dissatisfaction of young people and voters in France could be to Le Pen’s advantage. With the current economic crisis caused by the Russian war in Ukraine and the corona pandemic, young people’s disenchantment with established parties and Macron, and their changing image, Marine Le Pen could be ahead of the young electorate on April 24. It remains to be seen whether she will achieve victory.

Other sources: DPA and AFP news agencies

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