The top three: Edouard Philippe, Gabriel Attal, François Hollande Credits: Ksiamon, Conseil de l'Union Européenne, Web Summit
Who are the most popular politicians in France? Every month, research institute IFOP surveys the French population to find out.
As 2023 closes, it’s worth taking a look at how the year has treated the country’s politicians. Who’s up and who’s down?
I’ve taken a look at the December 2023 results and compared them to those from December 2022. Here’s a look at the two years side-by-side.
Source: IFOP
What’s worth noting?
First, the top personality is still former prime minister Edouard Philippe with an approval rating of 55%. That’s good news for him as he continues to prepare for a presidential bid in 2027. His path to becoming the candidate for the centre right is far from assured though, with fellow contenders Rachida Dati (46%), Laurent Wauquiez (40%) and Xavier Bertrand (39%) not far behind.
The number two spot this year has been taken by up-and-coming education minister Gabriel Attal (up from number 10 in 2022). Attal has made a big impression since taking over the education job in the summer with a focus on bullying and promising to improve the country’s performance in mathematics. His approval rating is 51%.
Attal’s rise knocked former president François Hollande down to the number three spot, although his approval rating of 47% remains the same. Interesting how some time out of office can be a good thing for popularity. Back in December 2016 as Hollande neared the end of his time as president, he languished in the 24th position with an approval rating of 35%.
One much commented on feature of the December ranking is that the president of the Rassemblement National, Jordan Bardella, has overtaken his mentor Marine Le Pen for the first time in the popularity stakes. He is now in the number 6 spot with a 44% approval rating with Le Pen just two spots behind at number 8 on 43%.
As for the two people running France, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne sits at number 22 with a 35% approval (down 7 points on the month before) while President Emmanuel Macron has a 32% approval (down 9 points on a year earlier when his rating was 41%).
The president's party and its allies fare better overall. Nine of those in the top 25 are from those three parties (Renaissance, Horizons, MoDem). On the right, five are from the centre-right Les Républicains, and four from the far-right (Rassemblement National, Reconquête). On the left, four are from the Parti Socialiste, two from the far-left (Communists and La France Insoumise) and one from the Greens.
Of the top 25 positions, five are women and 20 are men and just three of them are under 40 (Gabriel Attal, Jordan Bardella, Marion Maréchal).
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