Macron's Popularity Slides to Lowest Since Taking Office

Emmanuel Macron’s popularity has dropped to its lowest level since the French president took office 18 months ago, according to a poll by Ifop for the Journal du Dimanche weekly and published a day after he faced his biggest demonstration across the country.

Macron’s rating dropped four points in November from a month ago, to 25, while his Prime Minister Edouard Philippe’s fell 7 points to 34, pollster Ifop said in a release. The number showing dissatisfaction with Macron climbed to 73 in November from 70 a month earlier, Ifop also said.

Ifop polled 1,957 people of voting age, via phone and Internet, between Nov. 9 and Nov. 17.

France was shaken Saturday by the biggest demonstrations since Macron took office. Police responded with tear gas against protesters who blocked traffic in a grassroots movement that coalesced around demands for lower gasoline taxes. One person was killed and more than 200 were injured.

See: ‘Yellow Vest’ movement protests against gasoline tax increase

Parisian traffic was snarled as more than 1,000 people marched in the center of the capital, and one protester died in southeastern France after being hit by a car whose driver panicked amid a road blockade. More than 2,000 rallies took place across the country, gathering more than 282,000 protesters, according to the government.

The day’s events place Macron in a delicate position as he strives to take the heat out of a movement which has morphed from a demand to lower gasoline taxes into a diffuse expression of anger against high unemployment and difficulties to make ends meet.