Macron and Le Pen, looking left

The two presidential opponents, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, look to the left on Tuesday, eyeing in particular the voters of Jean-Luc Mélenchon who could, according to analysts, make the difference in the second round.

Sure a priori to fill up the votes on their right, the two contenders clash on the ground of purchasing power, the number one concern of the French.

The presidential candidate, who has been increasing his travels since Sunday, must go to the Grand-Est, the day after a tour of the North on popular lands which voted overwhelmingly for Marine Le Pen in the first round.

Assailed all day on his project of retirement age at 65, he ended up sending a strong signal to the popular electorate by saying he was ready to “move” on this totem of his program and half-open the door to a starting age at 64. An unexpected concession thirteen days before the second round.

In Mulhouse, he goes to meet caregivers, then goes to Strasbourg in the evening, two cities having carried Mr. Mélenchon in the lead on Sunday with 35-36% of the vote.

To win in the second round, Mr. Macron must convince as many left-wing voters as possible to vote for him.

But the task is not easy.

“I would like him to take into account those voters who are going to vote for him to block the far right, which he has not done at all for 5 years”, says Lucile in Strasbourg, an artist from 32 years old who voted Mélenchon in the first round. “It would really make it possible to reconcile with him,” she told AFP.

Another resident, Jean Mathieu, architect, who also voted for Mélenchon, says he wants to “vote for Macron, even if it doesn’t make me happy (…) But I’m waiting for him to show signs of openness”.

Monday, the subject occupied a good part of an “executive office” of the majority, decided to “insist on the measures of the program which have not yet been heard”, including the most social, according to one of the participants. .

Accused of having been too absent before the first round, Mr. Macron has decided to increase the visits and walkabouts he likes. This should culminate with a big meeting on Saturday in Marseille.

A leader of the majority summarizes the objective of the next few days as follows, fearing the impact of a fracture with popular circles in the second round: “In the measures, people have retained the salty, like retirement at 65, not sugar”.

– “Different return match” –

For her part, Marine Le Pen, who says she has learned for five years, must speak in the media on Tuesday first in the morning on France Inter then in the evening at 8 p.m. on TF1. She must also shoot her campaign clip and hold a press conference on the theme of “democracy” in Vernon, Eure.

Mrs. Le Pen, who defends the maintenance of retirement at 62, wants to initiate a profound reform of the institutions, if she is elected president on April 24, by resorting in particular to the referendum and by registering the “national priority” in the fundamental Law. This principle will allow “only the French” to access certain social benefits, as detailed in its program.

As of Sunday evening, she had called on voters on the right and on the left to “join” her, praising a project of “social justice” and “protection”.

And Monday in Yonne, she insisted on purchasing power and in particular the sharp rise in inflation calling for “emergency measures” to deal with it.

Without deviating from its strategy of proximity or social themes, Marine Le Pen is also betting on the voices of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, before those of his rival Eric Zemmour with whom reconciliation promises to be complicated.

“I say to the voters of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, be real rebellious, (…) do not save the head of Emmanuel Macron”, launched Monday on LCI the spokesperson for the candidate of the RN, Sébastien Oak.

For Brice Teinturier, director of Ipsos, “it’s a totally different return match” compared to 2017 when Mr. Macron largely beat Ms. Le Pen in the second round. “The poster is the same and at the same time it is no longer the same at all”, he says.

At this stage, Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s electorate intends to vote “34% for Emmanuel Macron, 30% for Marine Le Pen, which is more than in 2017, and 36% to remain at home,” says Brice Teinturier.

Between the two rounds, the far-right candidate will have to consolidate her “populist nationalist” base but also “develop her social theme to encourage support or abstention among left-wing voters”, analysis of her alongside political scientist Jérôme Sainte-Marie (PollingVox).

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