Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are neck and neck in the polls. But, in France, one political figure is widely favored by public opinion: Kamala Harris. According to an Elabe opinion survey published on October 30, 64% of French people want a victory for the Democratic candidate in the American presidential election, compared to only 13% for her Republican opponent Donald Trump. Even among RN voters, only 30% are favorable to the ex-president compared to 46% for the Democratic vice-president.
Opinions are more divided among political leaders. On the left, Jean-Luc Mélenchon indicated this Tuesday, November 5 that if he had to vote in the American election, his choice would fall on the ecologist Jill Stein or on the Democrat Kamala Harris depending on whether he lived in a “swing state”, a pivotal state, or not.
For the rebellious leader, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are “similar but not identical”: “both cover the genocide” in Gaza, “agree on capitalism”, “on the fact that we should not tax super-profits” and “for doing nothing in the field of public health”. “The lesser evil is always evil,” he summed up. But “there is a fundamental difference” between the two candidates: “Donald Trump is against the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy” while “Kamala Harris defends this idea”, observed the three-time unsuccessful presidential candidate in a video posted on YouTube. So, if he voted in a “swing state”, his vote would favor Kamala Harris. However, if he lived in a state whose electorates are guaranteed to be Democrats, Jean-Luc Mélenchon would vote for the ecologist Jill Stein, whom he finds “close to the Insoumis”.
Environmentalists’ appeal to Jill Stein
Already a candidate in 2012 (0.4% of the vote) then in 2016 (1%), the candidate of the American Green Party will present ballots in her name in nearly 40 states. She notably campaigned by breaking away from the Democratic duo currently in the White House and by denouncing “the genocide” of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, a term also used by the French rebels. In 2016, Jill Stein was accused of having dispersed Hillary Clinton’s electorate, favoring Donald Trump.
Last week, European environmental parties called on the American environmentalist to withdraw her candidacy in favor of Kamala Harris, as the election promises to be close. The national secretary of Ecologists Marine Tondelier relayed this message on the social network Jill Stein to withdraw from the race. Full support for Kamala Harris. We do not want a second Trump presidency. For the climate, for peace, for women, for democracy,” wrote Marine Tondelier.
If, for Sandrine Rousseau, Kamala Harris “takes on important battles like abortion”, the environmentalist MP “does not find her sufficiently radical either on ecological issues or on the left”, she explained at the microphone of Daily.
Last week, on social networksthe former presidential candidate (ex-PS) Benoît Hamon had shown more frank support for Kamala Harris, calling to vote for the Democratic candidate. “There is no doubt that Donald Trump is sexist, there is no doubt that he is racist, there is no doubt that he advocates an unequal and discriminatory project For all these reasons, we should really not wish anyone on the globe a second term for Donald Trump,” declared Benoît Hamon.
The unusual discretion of the RN
On the right and on the extreme right, this time, if Eric Ciotti and those responsible for Reconquête! openly display their support for Donald Trump, the National Rally (RN), in its quest for recognition, is however much more discreet than during the 2016 and 2020 elections.
In 2016, Marine Le Pen openly campaigned for Donald Trump. “If I were American, I would vote for everything except Hillary Clinton,” she declared. Ditto in 2020. “If Joe Biden were elected, it would be a real catastrophe,” she said, sending a delegation from her party to Donald Trump’s last meeting. Nothing so obvious for this election, where the RN is more cautious. “I am French, I never comment on foreign elections,” said RN deputy Jean-Philippe Tanguy on TF1 on Tuesday. “Donald Trump defends the interests of Americans and defends a form of American pride. And I love this patriotism,” Jordan Bardella declared last week.
Support for the American billionaire, with whom Eric Zemmour boasted of a telephone exchange during the campaign for the 2022 presidential election, is on the other hand much more uninhibited at Reconquête! MP Sarah Knafo, who takes Donald Trump as a model for the French conservative right, attended one of the Republican candidate’s last meetings, in Pennsylvania. She supports on X the “candidate of national identity and peace”, the one who “defends freedom of expression alongside Elon Musk against all censors”.
Criticizing “the drift towards the left and the ultra-left” of the Democrats in favor, according to him, of “mass irregular immigration” and a “terrifying wokism”, the former boss of the Republicans Eric Ciotti, now joined to the RN, also estimated this Tuesday that an election of former President Donald Trump “would be more beneficial for the economic and political balances” of the world.
Unsurprisingly, the executive displays its neutrality. “We will take the president that the Americans give us,” declared the Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot this Tuesday morning on France 2.