French President Emmanuel Macron’s approval rating has stumbled less than three months before the first round of the country’s election.
Macron’s approval rating fell to 37% in January from 41% a month earlier, while 60% disapproved, according to a poll by Ifop for the Journal du Dimanche published on Sunday. It was the biggest decline in the survey since March.
Only 7% of respondents declared themselves very satisfied with Macron, against 30% who were very unsatisfied. Macron’s approval equaled levels from last spring.
Ifop polled 1,952 people online and over the telephone from Jan. 14 to Jan. 20. The margin of error was plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.
The president’s rating remains above those of his predecessors Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy at the same time of their tenure. And Macron, who’s yet to formally declare his bid for re-election, is seen leading his opponents in polls of first round vote intentions.
Recent surveys have shown Macron has about 25% support ahead of the April 10 vote, with support for right-wing and far-right candidates split two or three ways. The top two candidates in the first round advance to a runoff on April 24.
Approval for French Prime Minister Jean Castex fell 6 percentage points to 34% in the Ifop poll.
