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Emmanuel Macron as
"
Le candidate
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in his own campaign series on YouTube - France's president appears in a glossy finish, as if it were a Netflix series.
Emmanuel Macron, French President:
"Five years ago they expressed their confidence in me.
And I tried to get the maximum out of it.«
The French head of state should appear authentic in this production, presidential and at the same time close to the people.
However, fewer and fewer French people seem to believe that.
Britta Sandberg, SPIEGEL correspondent in Paris:
"There are polls that say that the majority of French people have the greatest trust in Emmanuel Macron of all candidates to represent France well on the international stage and to give the country the appropriate weight.
But the same polls also say that Macron doesn't know much about the concerns of the French.
And that is an image that has been further strengthened by this election campaign.«
Macron's support for the first round of this Sunday's presidential election has been waning for a few weeks.
First the corona pandemic, then the war in Ukraine.
Macron was in demand as president – the election campaign fell by the wayside.
And so he only appeared at one big campaign event.
He didn't come across as close to the people either, in terms of content he remained true to his economically liberal course.
Emmanuel Macron, La République en Marche:
»There is no welfare state without a strong productive state.
Without a France that is innovative and productive.
That works and creates wealth to redistribute.”
This woman is his biggest competitor.
Although the right-wing extremist Marine Le Pen is still almost four percent behind Macron in the polls for the first round of elections, he could be dangerous in the runoff.
And that although she also has little new themes to offer and continues to focus on her well-known favorite topic: the fear of migrants.
Marine Le Pen, Rassemblement National:
»Foreigners who come to our country have to take care of themselves.
A foreigner who comes to us will not be able to take advantage of our hospitality and will respect French, our traditions, our way of life, our laws.«
However, Le Pen can really score against Macron with a new tactic.
Britta Sandberg, SPIEGEL correspondent in Paris:
»She has made her decision: the French don't have to come to her, she goes to the French.
It drives out to the villages, to small and medium-sized towns.
She goes to weekly markets and talks to people there.
So it was a very grassroots election campaign, if you will.
That's the eternal other dilemma that people have the feeling that they exist in Paris.
And then there are the others in the provinces who have been forgotten or who count themselves among the left behind.
And unlike Macron, she managed to convey: I'm close to you, I know about your concerns."
Le Pen need not worry about competition from the political right for the first round of voting.
Right-wing extremist Éric Zemmour had tried in vain to turn the mood for himself with a pompous performance under the Eiffel Tower.
The Conservative candidate, Valérie Pécresse, seems similarly defeated and prematurely out of the race.
However, the supporters of Zemmour and Pécresse will play a role in the runoff election in two weeks: Zemmour voters are likely to rally behind Le Pen, while Pécresse supporters could bring votes from both the far-right and Macron.
The incumbent president is not threatened by any danger from the left this Sunday – despite the surprisingly strong poll numbers of the old leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Indomitable France:
"Make your choice: retire at 65 with Macron or at 60 with Mélenchon."
Even if he seemed omnipresent in many cities across the country in the form of a hologram in his last major appearance, it will probably not be enough for Mélenchon to make it into the runoff.
According to current polls, more than half of Mélenchon supporters would not vote at all in the second round of voting, while the majority of the others probably support Macron.
The big unknown this time are the many French people who don't even want to go to the polls.
A good 30 percent of those eligible to vote say they will not cast a vote.
Britta Sandberg, SPIEGEL correspondent in Paris:
"The majority of them are between 24 and 35 years old, so they tend to be younger French people who don't go to the polls.
Of course, there are also rather uneducated milieus, workers, employees, sometimes lower middle class.
And it could be that among those abstentions are many disappointed left-wing voters.
Voters who may have voted for Macron in 2017, then were disappointed in him and now don't recognize themselves in any other candidate."
Emmanuel Macron, French President:
"You have to realize every second that trust has to be earned.
If you don't question yourself, seek and ask for trust, then you've already lost."
Even if Macron still wins the first round on Sunday: whether he remains the head of state or France moves radically to the right with Le Pen, the voters will not decide until April 24th.