Elisabeth Borne's approval rating fell by three points in January, close to its lowest levels, amid speculation about a possible reshuffle, while 66% of French people want the prime minister to step down, according to two polls published on Thursday.
According to the Elabe barometer for the daily Les Echos, only 23% of those surveyed trust the head of government to "effectively tackle the main problems" of the country. It is losing the rebound in confidence recorded last month.
Emmanuel Macron's rating remains almost stable at 27% (-1 point), but the President of the Republic "is starting this year with a deficit of five points compared to last year (32% in January 2023)", notes the institute.
While the government is hanging on the head of state's decision on a possible reshuffle, another study, carried out by Odoxa for the newspaper Le Figaro, notes that 66% of French people are calling for Borne to step down. "Never before have so many of them wanted to part with her," the institute notes.
Attal in front of Le Maire to succeed Borne
To succeed him, 36% of French people believe that the Minister of National Education, Gabriel Attal, would make "a good Prime Minister", followed by his colleague for the Economy, Bruno Le Maire (31%). They are the only two ministers that more French people would like to see stay rather than leave in the event of a reshuffle, according to Odoxa. The Minister of Defence, Sébastien Lecornu, whose name has been circulating in recent days for Matignon, came in dead last with only 10% of people thinking he would make a "good" head of government.
The Elabe barometer also confirms the rise of Gabriel Attal, who is on his way to joining Édouard Philippe at the top of the ranking of the most popular political figures. The former prime minister remains in first place with 41% of positive opinions, but has lost three points in a month and even six points since November, while Macron's rising star has gained another point to 39% of positive opinions.
Read alsoReshuffle: the Lecornu track to replace Borne at Matignon at the heart of speculation
They are followed by the two leaders of the National Rally Marine Le Pen (36%, +1 point) and Jordan Bardella (33%, +2 points). On the left, former head of state François Hollande came first with 31% of positive opinions (+3 points).
The Elabe poll was conducted online from January 2 to 3 among a sample of 1,002 people representative of the French population aged 18 and over, with a margin of error of between 1.4 and 3.1 percentage points.
The Odoxa poll was conducted online from January 3 to 4 among a sample of 992 people representative of the French population aged 18 and over, with a margin of error of about 2.5 percentage points.