“I have the impression of experiencing an opening like in Czechia in 1968.” Catherine is not afraid of big words. This 70-year-old retiree, who was a teacher in the history of ideas in management college, wants at all costs to communicate her “happiness” to have to “finally” his ideas represented on television. In particular thanks to a man: Eric Zemmour. “I discovered it at Christine Kelly, on CNews, and I was filled with happiness listening to it”, she repeats, before whispering: “I’m afraid that he will be killed, as we killed Fillon metaphorically speaking, I fear the same thing.”
Catherine is very involved behind the far-right polemicist, whose candidacy for the presidential election is expected shortly. She gave him “under” (80 euros) and went to see him in a meeting with his whole family in Nîmes (Gard). A family whose members are all graduates of bac +5 to bac +8. She makes it clear to contradict those “who want to pass the voters of Zemmour for primary people”. She will soon return to see him in Valence (Drôme). By voting for Eric Zemmour, Catherine is preparing to give up on her long-standing political family: The Republicans. The party is also in the process of appointing a candidate for the presidential election. The candidates debate, Sunday, November 21, on CNews and Europe 1, for the third time.
Catherine is far from being the only LR sympathizer to acclaim Eric Zemmour. According to the survey carried out in October by Ipsos / Sopra Steria in partnership with The world and Cevipof-Sciences Po, out of a panel of 16,000 people, nearly a quarter (22%) of the voters of François Fillon in 2017 today expresses an intention to vote for the former journalist. “For several years, there has been an ideological rapprochement between the right and the far right, analyzes the researcher Antoine Bristielle, director of the Observatory of the opinion of the Jean-Jaurès foundation, who has worked on the subject. But this fringe of the LR electorate – Fillonists or hard Sarkozists – was not going to vote for Marine Le Pen, perceived as being ‘too popular classes’, it is in this that the Zemmour candidacy can seduce them. “
And, according to these right-wing voters, Eric Zemmour seduces them above all for his “courage” and “the coherence of his ideas”. “He speaks true, without taboos”, says Jacques, a 60-year-old trader. “He is a courageous man who says what we want to hear”, supports Xavier, 35, project manager in IT and claimed sarkozyste.
“He’s somebody who thinks what he says, it makes a hell of a difference to mainstream politicians.”
Xavier, right-wing voterto franceinfo
“We used to be called fascists simply for saying that there were too many foreigners in such and such a city, remarks Sébastien *, a 36-year-old banking IT engineer. Zemmour says the same thing, he is called a fascist but he says he doesn’t care. He shows courage, courage that many other candidates lacked. ” Catherine also nods: “He lifted the leaden cap over it all.” “All that” refers to Eric Zemmour’s favorite themes: immigration, security and identity.
It is above all for the positions of Eric Zemmour on these subjects that these voters, sometimes even members of LR, have chosen the one who was condemned for “incitement to racial hatred” and still has many cases in court.
Like the polemicist, they make a clear link between delinquency and immigration, going much further than their original camp. “We may be open, there is a moment when it is too much”, assumes Sébastien, who explains having left Paris after being the victim of several assaults. He is now established in the region of Metz (Moselle) and things are going, to hear him, a little better, except for some problems of “violence” at her daughter’s nursery school: “She’s been beaten before and the people who bothered her weren’t called François-Xavier.”
For these LR supporters, several of whom were sometimes tempted to vote RN, the former UMP party is far too soft on sovereign matters. But, they observe, things have changed since the emergence of the ex-CNews star. “The LR are Eric Zemmour’s parrots, they don’t have the right, they are unworthy!” Catherine gets angry. “They take Zemmour’s words because they feel that some will go to him for the next elections”, abounds Jacques, convinced that “centrists took power at LR”. “They are not capable of producing a right-wing ideology, they are subject to leftist ideology”, even assures Xavier.
“The LR talk is cat porridge, it’s commonplaces, the product of non-thought. LR is a losing machine.”
Catherine, former LR memberto franceinfo
Apart from Eric Ciotti, who has also said that he would vote Eric Zemmour in the event of a second round against Emmanuel Macron, no LR candidate finds favor in the eyes of these right-wing supporters. “These are just people who spat on the party and left it”, laughs David, 45, settled in Switzerland for work. In his viewfinder: Xavier Bertrand and Valérie Pécresse. He does not forget Michel Barnier “who suddenly sees himself as a patriot while he was in Brussels for years”.
“The first reason why I am going to vote for Eric Zemmour is the absence of a credible political offer from the LR side”, sums up Xavier. The latter does not only support the polemicist since he retrieves, via Telegram loops, the arguments of the Zemmour teams, which he then disseminates on social networks. “All the sarkozysts I know will vote for him”, says Xavier.
What to worry about the LR staff? Not really, according to MP Fabien Di Filippo, in charge of militant mobilization. “It is especially the people of the RN who come to inflate the score of Eric Zemmour. We, our score has hardly changed since his arrival”, assures the parliamentarian. The latter explains understanding “disappointment” caused by the elimination of François Fillon in 2017 and is currently speaking “a bonus for radicalism”.
“Yes, some stop at Zemmour’s to see if he holds up, but it will be something else on the subjects of everyday life for the French. Our capacity to govern is much greater than that of Zemmour.”
Fabien Di Filippo, LR deputyto franceinfo
For “to win back” these voters tempted by the polemicist, the elected representative evokes two conditions: “an unambiguous political line in relation to Macron” and demonstrate “our ability to win”. A cocktail that would already be a winner, according to the latter, when we see the boom in party memberships within the framework of the congress set from December 1 to 4. Nearly 150,000 members will designate the LR candidate for the presidential election, ie double the figure two months ago. “There is a credibility bonus that will benefit us, I think”, continues Fabien Di Filippo.
Will this be enough to catch up with voters anchored very to the right and strongly seduced by Eric Zemmour? Uncertainty is allowed if one listens to Sébastien, the thirty-something who lives near Metz. “They’re running behind Zemmour, but they’re going to have a hard time making Sarko’s broken Kärcher forget. They make big speeches and come to power, they don’t do anything.” And the latter to conclude: “I have been voting for them for twenty years, I no longer believe in them.”
* The first name has been changed at the request of the interested party.