Left-wing voters no longer know where they live. Socialists, ecologists, rebels, communists… Less than three months before the presidential election, many of them do not find themselves in the numerous left-wing candidates. Annoyed by the fratricidal wars and the polls at half mast, some could abandon their camp to abstain or turn to Emmanuel Macron.
“I had a last hope of rallying the left with the Popular Primary, but with the victory of Christiane Taubira, it is unfortunately yet another candidacy which is added to this great gloubi-boulga which no one understands anything anymore. It is pathetic”regrets Mathieu, a socialist activist who is considering for the very first time not to vote for the left. “Disgusted”he assures that he will vote for Emmanuel Macron in the first round of the presidential election.
Faced with the spectacle offered by the left since the beginning of the Elysian campaign, the strategy of the “the same time” could prove to be profitable for the Head of State. The one who has continued to appear since 2017 as a president “neither right nor left” has indeed scored valuable points with some of the left-wing sympathizers during his five-year term.
According to a study by the BVA-Opinion institute unveiled last October by the Jean-Jaurès Foundation, 54% of socialist sympathizers then planned to vote for the head of state in the first round and 20% of them even “the definite intention to do so”. Emmanuel Macron even raked beyond the traditional social-democratic electorate: 38% of green voters and 25% of sympathizers of rebellious France could slip a ballot into the ballot box in favor of the outgoing president on April 10.
This study, titled “Presidential 2022: on the left, the temptation of the useful vote” is aptly named. If left-wing voters have decided to shun their traditional candidates, it is primarily because they want to block the far right from the first round. “It is an obvious element of calculation”for Sébastien, a 23-year-old apprentice baker, who voted for Benoît Hamon in 2017. “Faced with the shift in the center of gravity to the right or even to the far right, I think that Emmanuel Macron is the only one who can still be a bulwark against the fillonist right of Valérie Pécresse and the nationalist right of Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour”judges the young Bordelais.
This shift to the right has not escaped the majority, who can take advantage of it. “As Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian so rightly said, social democracy has definitively left the PS and moved to Territories of Progress”, welcomes the senator of Hauts-de-Seine Xavier Iacovelli, general delegate of this small political formation. This former elected socialist recognizes having to face criticism, such as the abolition of the ISF at the start of the five-year term. However, it ensures save “a good twenty new memberships each week, mainly from the Socialist Party”.
Among the former supporters of Benoît Hamon or Jean-Luc Mélenchon in 2017, some still chose to turn to Emmanuel Macron out of conviction. Disappointed PS even welcome “left-wing politics” led by the outgoing president. “As a former PS activist, I feel much more comfortable today defending Emmanuel Macron’s record than that of François Hollande five years ago”, launches Hervé. After 25 years of activism in the Socialist Party in the Paris region and in the south-west of France, this 57-year-old nurse will vote for the candidate Macron “without hesitation”.
“The PMA for all, the rest at zero charge, the abolition of the housing tax, the drop in unemployment, the splitting of classes… For me, who is deeply on the left, Emmanuel Macron did the job.”
Hervé, nurse and former PS activistfranceinfo
For some neo-macronists from the ranks of the left and ecology, “whatever it takes” introduced by the executive in the face of the health crisis hit the mark. “I think the Covid-19 crisis revealed it and not saved his five-year term as I hear everywhere. Emmanuel Macron was not obliged to support the economy as he did”believes Arlette, a young Parisian retiree “very touched” by the 1,500 euros per month that she received from the State during the crisis to ensure the survival of her speech therapy practice in Paris.
“Recognition”, it is also that Assia feels towards the policy of the Head of State. This technology teacher in a college in the Ile-de-France, once close to the ideas of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, did not vote in 2017. This time, she will go to the polls for Emmanuel Macron with her eyes closed. “The job insecurity bonus of one hundred euros received by my daughter, a scholarship holder for her pharmacy studies, and the energy check for the same amount that I received really arrived at the right time for us”testifies this mother of four children, very recently inserted in En Marche and Territories of progress.
Among these confused left-wing sympathizers, not all adhere to Emmanuel Macron’s policy. Quite the contrary. Grégory, who claims a communist and socialist family heritage, castigates “a right-wing president, with an economy minister who attacked labor law and Gérald Darmanin’s tough and unacceptable interior policy”. He does not imagine giving his vote to the outgoing president. This 48-year-old special education teacher therefore decided for the first time in his life as a citizen not to vote.
“For years, I have kept my convictions but lost my illusions. I no longer find myself among the candidates on the left.”
Grégory, special education teacherat franceinfo
“Disunity, I’m sick of it. If the left were smart, it would first see the importance of advancing and passing social ideas before knowing if Yannick Jadot is better than Jean-Luc Mélenchon”gets carried away this Orléanais who says he is close today to the ideas of the anti-capitalist candidate, Philippe Poutou.
Daniel, a 46-year-old father in the Bordeaux region, is also “stunned” by the situation experienced by the French left. He’s sure not going to vote either. “Or maybe I’ll slip in a blank ballot with ‘Jean-Michel Blanquer resignation’ written on it”ironically this college professor, currently on strike against health protocols in schools.
“Anne Hidalgo is François Hollande in the feminine. Yannick Jadot is a liberal. I really like Christiane Taubira, but I have the impression that her program is a bit empty. As for Mélenchon, I can’t stand not the character and his closeness to Vladimir Putin and China.”
Daniel, teacher in Girondeat franceinfo
Abstainers are also legion among left-wing voters who had got into the habit of voting useful in previous elections to block the far right. Julien, who has always voted on the left, has already made his decision: “I made the choice never to vote against again. I will therefore only vote for and today, I do not see who to vote for on the left.
Like Grégory, this young project manager in the environment in Lyon is very angry with left-wing candidates. “Voting for candidates who won’t get more than 5% because they aren’t smart enough to put their egos aside drives me crazy”he laughs.
Despite the divisions and the scattering of votes within the left bloc, which would weigh only 23% to 25% according to the polls, some sympathizers still want to believe in “a possible and vital recomposition of the left”. Although opposed to this citizen tie-breaking system, Franck insisted on voting in the popular Primary. This former pro-Ségolène Royal activist will support Emmanuel Macron in the first round, “unless Yannick Jadot manages to miraculously bring together the entire left”. “Many of us on the left vote for the outgoing president because his five-year term has been rather successful, but for me, Emmanuel Macron is a temporary phenomenon”thinks this executive who works in the private sector in Montrouge (Hauts-de-Seine).
He is already planning for 2027, the year of the next presidential election. This 36-year-old Parisian is convinced that the right-left divide will be back after a possible second Macron five-year term. “The PS will have exploded and Jean-Luc Mélenchon will no longer be a candidate. There will therefore be a major reorganization of the left and this great and new left-wing force will undoubtedly face Edouard Philippe, a real right-wing candidate… “, he imagines.