Hated Macron's own party plead with him NOT to go on the campaign trail because he is so unpopular
Hated Emmanuel Macron's own party have pleaded with him not to go on the campaign trial because he is so unpopular.
Since the French president called the high-stakes snap parliamentary election on June 9, he appears to have been avoiding the limelight after not being seen at several public appearances and rallies.
In brutal response to his poor approval ratings, Macron's own centrist Together coalition has erased his face from campaign materials, referring to the initiative as 'de-Macronisation'.
Senior party members are now so concerned about the negative reactions to Macron's presence in election literature, they have reportedly privately urged the president to step back from the public eye.
An unnamed minister told Le Parisien that voters' responses to seeing Macron's face on campaign materials during the European elections were unfavourable, with sentiments like, 'Oh, no, not him.'
![French President Emmanuel Macron has been urged to not take part in his party's campaign trial as he is so unpopular](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/05/14/86974841-13604373-image-a-1_1720185146512.jpg)
French President Emmanuel Macron has been urged to not take part in his party's campaign trial as he is so unpopular
![The French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has taken on the role as the face of the presidential party as he campaigns against Marine Le Pen's anti-immigration National Rally](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/05/14/86974801-13604373-image-a-2_1720185208578.jpg)
The French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal has taken on the role as the face of the presidential party as he campaigns against Marine Le Pen's anti-immigration National Rally
![A poster with a photograph of French President Emmanuel Macron (L) and French member of Parliament for far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party Marine Le Pen (2-L), reads 'funeral wedding'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/05/14/86974837-13604373-image-a-3_1720185265804.jpg)
A poster with a photograph of French President Emmanuel Macron (L) and French member of Parliament for far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party Marine Le Pen (2-L), reads 'funeral wedding'
Adding to the chorus, Bruno Millienne, an outgoing MP for Yvelines, said on a French TV interview: 'Yes, I told the Élysée, he is hated on the ground. And we're paying dearly for this detestation and it's unfair'.
'The de-Macronisation of France is underway. I regret it, but that's the way it is', he wrote on Instagram.
Macron had seemingly underestimated the severity of his unpopularity, but his former prime minister Édouard Philippe voiced the 'rejection of the President of the Republic' while Christophe Bechu, minister of ecological transition, admitted that Macron's image had become a frustration for some.
Bechu told French news channel TF1: 'There is a wear and tear that has affected all the presidents of the Fifth Republic.
'Here, the wear and tear is even greater because this is Emmanuel Macron's second term.'
To distance themselves from their liability, Gabriel Attal, the French prime minister, has taken on the prominent role as the face of the presidential party, campaigning tirelessly against Marine Le Pen's anti-immigration, nationalist National Rally (RN).
Public sentiment against Macron was evident on June 17 in Val-de-Marne, where a passerby told Attal: 'You're fine. But you'll have to tell the president to shut his mouth'.
This interaction pushed Attal to further separate himself from the president and reiterate to the individual: 'You know, this is a legislative election, we are voting for the prime minister'.
Recent polls underscore Macron's dwindling popularity, with just 27 per cent of respondents in a June 17 poll via Public Senat considering him a good president.
![Marine Le Pen, member of parliament and French far-right National Rally party leader, arrives at the RN party headquarters in Paris, France, July 1, 2024](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/05/14/86974855-13604373-image-a-4_1720185301582.jpg)
Marine Le Pen, member of parliament and French far-right National Rally party leader, arrives at the RN party headquarters in Paris, France, July 1, 2024
A staggering 72 per cent found his actions unsatisfactory, while a separate poll reported by Le Journal du Dimanche revealed an approval rating of just 26 per cent for Macron.
The urge for Macron to keep himself out of the spotlight for self-preservation comes after several candidates have reported being attacked on the campaign trial, including government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot.
The French interior minister revealed Thursday that some 30,000 police officers will be deployed on July 7, during the second round of voting, including 5,000 in the Paris region.
Candidates have complained of both hate speech and physical violence in the tense but brief and polarizing campaign that could see the RN winning an absolute majority, which would be a first and a major historical shift for France.
Thevenot, a candidate for the centrist Ensemble alliance led by Macron, said she and a deputy and a party activist were putting up election posters in Meudon near Paris on Wednesday night when a group attacked them.
Thevenot's deputy and the party activist were both dashed to a hospital following the attack.
'The symbolic violence of words quickly was replaced by physical violence,' she told reporters while back on the campaign trail Thursday, adding the motive behind the attack was still under investigation.
The prosecutor's office said it opened an investigation into a gang assault with a weapon against a public official.
Four people, including three minors, are in custody, prosecutors said.
Politicians on all sides condemned the attack and others on candidates from various parties.
Marie Dauchy, a RN candidate in Savoy, said she was assaulted Wednesday at a food market while campaigning and announced she was abandoning the race.
![Government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot revealed she had been subject to an attack on Wednesday while putting up election posters in Meudon near Paris](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/07/05/14/86974787-13604373-image-a-5_1720185340646.jpg)
Government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot revealed she had been subject to an attack on Wednesday while putting up election posters in Meudon near Paris
Her party's leader and three-time presidential candidate, Marine Le Pen, said on X, formerly Twitter, that two men had 'cowardly' assaulted Dauchy.
Nicolas Conquer, a candidate for The Republicans, said on social media that he was assaulted while distributing election flyers in the Atlantic coast city of Cherbourg on Tuesday.
He was accompanied by a minor when the incident happened, and reported it to police, he said.
'Let's reject the climate of violence and hatred that is taking hold,' Attal said Thursday on X, following the spate of attacks.
Sunday July 7 will see the second round run-off vote in France's parliamentary election, with the first having taken place on June 30.
There is currently the potential of a hung parliament with no clear majority, unless the far-right RN wins enough seats to form its first government since World War II.
A total of 577 constituencies are being decided in the snap election, one for each seat in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament.
A total of 76 lawmakers were elected in the first round - including 39 representing the RN and its allies - leaving 501 sets up for grabs in the run-off.
This Sunday’s voting ends at 6pm (16:00 GMT) in towns and small cities and 8 pm (18:00 GMT) in big cities.