A few days before the election, Emmanuel Macron’s supporters are mobilizing on the ground to try to reduce the gap against the National Rally, well ahead in the polls. But they face a Macronist electorate that is more than undecided.
The rain streams down the faces of the Renaissance activists gathered in front of the imposing Bellerive residence, in the heart of Puteaux (Hauts-de-Seine). More than a thousand housing units and nine condominiums: this is the playground for their door-to-door canvassing today. “A population that is rather favorable to us, but we can have hesitant people”, explains Pierre Collardey, coordinator of the local committee of the presidential party. He was counting on around ten activists, and especially on the presence of Prisca Thevenot, the government spokesperson, elected from the department. There will ultimately be seven at most, this Wednesday, May 29, without the minister, retained elsewhere.
Nothing to discourage Romain Atlante, in 58th position on Valérie Hayer’s list for the European elections. “We are on the ground every day. Since we have the program, we have had a very good reception”assures this legal director in real estate, who does not believe in bad surveys. “For the presidential election, no one achieved the score announced by the polls”he sweeps away, while voting intentions for the head of the RN list, Jordan Bardella, peak at more than 30% when Valérie Hayer stagnates around 15%.
The city of Puteaux, led for twenty years by Mayor LR Joëlle Ceccaldi-Raynaud, voted more than 37% for Emmanuel Macron in the first round of the 2022 presidential election. During the 2019 European elections, the presidential camp here outperformed its competitors by more than 30%. But after seven years in power, the wear and tear is felt. “The mobilization of the Macronist base is weaknoted Mathieu Gallard, director of studies for the Ipsos institute, a few weeks ago. Emmanuel Macron’s voters in the first round of the 2022 presidential election are among those who least intend to travel.”
So, around ten days before the election, Renaissance activists know that they need to wake up their electorate to hope for a surge in the polls on June 9. Armed with his red shopping cart stuffed with leaflets and programs from Valérie Hayer, Pierre Collardey opens the entrance to the residence with his pass. Pairs are formed and each sets off to attack a tower. It’s 6:30 p.m. For Pierre and Romain, it will be “the 10 bis”, with no less than sixteen floors made up of six dwellings. The militants attack from above. Bad pick. “Canvassing is prohibited, I ask you to leave the building”, thunders an elderly man who threatens to warn the building caretaker. Between the multiple doors that do not open, the “I am not interested” and residents who do not have the right to vote, activists of the presidential party look grim.
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Luck barely smiles on them one floor further down. Alia half-opens her door and says that she is teleworking. Romain hands out his leaflet, praises it “good record” Macronists in the European Parliament and repeats the slogan of the majority: “One round, one vote.” With her eyes fixed on the portrait of Valérie Hayer, Alia, who works in IT, slips: “I could vote for her, but I have to look at the thing.” His entourage is divided “between the Head of State and Marine Le Pen”, but “I’m more like Macron. It’s not bad what he does, I also like environmentalists.” Romain takes the opportunity to praise “the ecological planning of Béchu.” “Christophe Béchu, the Minister of Ecology”specifies Pierre, facing Alia’s doubtful look. “We also voted for the green pact in the European Parliament. We must vote for Hayer for ecology, everything I tell you is sourced on the internet”, continues Romain. The door closes.
Frédéric, another activist in Puteaux, arrives to lend a hand to the duo. On the 11th floor, Alexandra and Vincent, parents of little Diane aged 20 months, are up for a chat. Voters of Emmanuel Macron, they too are a little disoriented. “I looked at the signs, but quite honestly, the Europeans are less relevant, I don’t really see the challenges”, Vincent book. “All the questions we ask have an answer at European level, we saw this again during the health crisis”, argues Romain. Vincent, an aeronautics flight attendant, is not convinced by the presidential camp.
“I’m hesitant about Macron’s results, his record. I have mixed feelings about his way of doing things. It’s important to vote, but for him, I don’t know yet.”
Vincent, resident in Puteauxat franceinfo
“There is too much help and too much abuse. Too much social kills social”, adds the forty-year-old. Romain tries to undermine the discourse, encourages us to look at the statistics, pleads for support for the unemployed, citing his personal case. If Vincent agrees to “beat the extremes”, he immediately adds that “it’s the reflection of a certain fed up.”
This is precisely what Rosalia fears, one floor below. “If [Jordan] Bardella wins, I will have to leave because I am of foreign origin and I work in the civil service”, book, worried, this 58-year-old woman. She also voted for Emmanuel Macron in 2017 and 2022 and believes that he “did good things for the country.” But like other Macronist voters, she hesitates between “Mr. Attal’s team and the socialist” Raphael Glucksmann. On the other hand, the speech is rehearsed. “Valérie Hayer is the most influential woman in the European Parliament, Glucksmann has no influence. He associates himself with Nupes, the most terrible extreme left in the history of France. unfolds Romain. “Yes I understand”agrees Rosalia, who asks for leaflets for her children and her colleagues.
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On the same floor, the Macronist activists meet another voter divided between the PS candidate and the majority list. “I hesitate between Macron and Glusckmann, I had always voted socialist before Macron”, confides Isabelle, in the entrance to her apartment. Picked up in pajamas and sandals by the supporters of the Head of State, this single woman, who works at Afnor (the French Standardization Association), keeps the pension reform in her throat.
“The problem is that I turned 59 and I have to work an extra quarter because of the pension reform. I have a lot of stress, I’m fed up.”
Isabelle, resident in Puteauxat franceinfo
Without giving activists time to respond, Isabelle clears Emmanuel Macron of inflation. “Well, he can’t do anything about that and he removed the housing tax.” “Yes, I’m happy to no longer pay it.” smiled Roman. Isabelle promises to vote “useful” on June 9.
It’s 7:40 p.m. and the door-to-door campaign ends. In the lobby, activists gather and watch the rain falling in large drops outside the building. “When we talk about our results and our program, people tend to agree”reassures Romain, while recognizing that the proposals on Valérie Hayer’s list arrived late. “The campaign started a little late, Frédéric immediately bounced back. And Bardella left very early, he’s a bulldozer.” But the activist immediately tries to reassure himself: “There are some who are undecided with Glucksmann, but in the end, they will vote for Hayer. They will say to themselves that our record is not so bad.”