"A president cannot be permanently overtaken by his number two in public opinion"

A normalien, associate and doctor of history, Christophe de Voogd teaches political ideas and rhetoric at Sciences Po. He is notably the author of Reform: what discourse to convince? (Fondapol, 2017).

LE FIGARO. - Emmanuel Macron separated from a popular prime minister and even more popular than him. Do you see any precedents?

Christophe DE VOOGD. - I am a little wary of references to "precedents", which we are so fond of. Who practices comparative studies must, as Marc Bloch recommended, beware of false resemblances. We will naturally invoke the cases of De Gaulle-Pompidou in 1968, Pompidou-Chaban-Delmas in 1972 or Mitterrand-Rocard in 1991. But let's not forget that, if these prime ministers were acclaimed by public opinion, the presidents were then them - even very popular. Which is not the case with Emmanuel Macron today. In addition, popularity covers different things, according to polling institutes: "confidence"? "Satisfaction"? According to

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