“Neither Macron nor Le Pen”. Today the Quarter Hour gives voice to students who are blocking universities to “say no” to the duel in the second round of the presidential election. The presidential election seems to aggravate a generational divide already visible during the health crisis. Are we heading towards a generation war? We asked the question to the researcher François-Xavier Demoures who studied the points of divergence between the youngest and oldest French people.
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In 2002, the result of the first round of the presidential election prompted thousands of high school and college students to take to the streets. The watchword was clear: “everything except Le Pen”. Twenty years later, the duel between Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron also provokes the anger of part of the youth, who voted overwhelmingly for Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the first round. This time, no automatic republican front: “Neither Macron nor Le Pen” chanted today hundreds of students in French universities.
Le Quart d’Heure takes you to the Sorbonne, occupied since yesterday by angry students, who are hesitating between voting for the outgoing president, voting blank… or not voting at all. Ana and Lucie, 18 and 20, resent previous generations: “They retired at 60 and are voting for a candidate who will push us to work at 65!”
What if this first round was indicative of deeper generational divides? The health crisis had already highlighted the gap between young people deemed “irresponsible” and older people seen as “selfish”. “We confined ourselves, we lived through curfews to protect the fragile people to whom we gave part of our youth. In the end, these people voted for a candidate who does not have an ecological program. We too we want to live on a healthy planet!” Tom tells us.
So, temporary misunderstanding or real war of generations? We put the question to François-Xavier Demoures, director of the “Grand Récit” agency, who has just signed a study entitled “Generations: the great divide?”