French President Emmanuel Macron's approval rating has cratered to 16 percent — a record low — and the signal couldn't be clearer: when leaders serve international elites and open borders instead of their own people, the people notice. The same rejection is building here.
An Ipsos survey conducted for French outlet Le Figaro found Macron's popularity fell from 21 percent in July to just 16 percent now, according to Breitbart. Even within Macron's own centrist governing bloc — the Horizons, Modem, and Renaissance parties — only 53 percent still view him favorably. The rot goes straight down the cabinet: Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu sits at 20 percent approval. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez holds 25 percent. Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot clocks in at 12 percent. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin leads the pack at a miserable 38. The entire government is underwater.
Meanwhile, the American press barely noticed. While Breitbart reported the collapse of a major Western leader's mandate, Fox News, The Hollywood Reporter, and Page Six all led with the same celebrity divorce — Reacher star Alan Ritchson splitting from his wife after 20 years. All three ran essentially the same Instagram statement. That's the establishment media in a nutshell: a globalist technocrat losing his country's confidence gets buried; an actor's marriage gets three bylines.
Macron is term-limited and cannot run again when France votes in roughly seven months. But the unpopularity of his entire coalition drags down anyone trying to carry the neo-liberal, globalist mantle. Former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe, hailed as the centrist bloc's best hope to retain power, saw his negative rating soar 12 points since July to 57 percent, with support dropping 4 points to 19. Former PM Gabriel Attal hits 60 percent dissatisfaction. The French public is not satisfied with declared candidates from any side, the pollster found.
But one candidate fares better than the rest: National Rally leader Marine Le Pen. While 52 percent said they would be dissatisfied with her election, that number beats every rival in the field. Breitbart notes that other recent polling has consistently found the anti-mass-migration leader on pace to win both rounds of France's presidential election next April. The far-left's Jean-Luc Mélenchon, by contrast, draws 70 percent dissatisfaction — the worst of any candidate measured.
The pattern is plain. Across the West, leaders who prioritize international commitments and border erosion over their own citizens' interests are watching their consent evaporate. Macron built his career on the promise of a dynamic, integrated European future. The French public has rendered its verdict. The only question now is whether the populist wave cresting across Europe reaches American shores — or whether the same class that ignored Macron's collapse manages to bury the story here, too.
