Posted on 08/06/2017 7:25:16 AM PDT by mandaladon
PARIS (AP) -- Emmanuel Macron's honeymoon didn't last long.
Less than three months after his election, France's energetic and image-conscious president has seen his popularity drop after announcing budget cuts, launching a divisive labor reform and engaging in a damaging dispute with the military.
A series of opinion polls last week showed the percentage of French citizens who said they were satisfied with Macron's policies and trusted their young leader to deal with the country's problems plunging. The reversal might not affect the visible international profile he has cut since taking office, but it could hurt Macron's ability to secure his ambitious domestic agenda.
France's Ifop polling agency put it bluntly: "Apart from Jacques Chirac in July 1995, a newly elected president has never seen his popularity rate falling as quickly during the summer after the election."
His declining approval is striking given that Macron was being credited two months ago with giving France a boost of much-needed confidence after years of security fears and economic stagnation. Increasingly, he instead is portrayed as power-hungry and inexperienced.
The French media have started calling Macron "Jupiter," a reference to the mythological king of the Roman gods and what is perceived as the president's superior attitude after he upended France's political landscape and shot from relative obscurity to the nation's top post at age 39.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
This is pretty much standard operating procedure for French politics and is mainly an example of the media being the media. They no longer report on world events and leaders. They now seek to influence and control them.
This is no surprise. Everyone knows that Macron’s government will be in a crisis early in his term. France just has too many problems that Macron can’t fix.
That being said, did anyone else here notice that Macron has pivoted towards his opponents since being elected? Macron is highly intelligent and ruthless. He may transform himself to stay popular. Look for Macron to possibly become a Putin/Keyser Soze type figure who plays everyone else until he is the only man standing.
What a terrible job of journalism this piece is. Sheesh.
maricon “looked presidential”, the same rational that many low iq American citizens used to vote for b o.
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