{"id":72115,"date":"2022-04-22T11:00:40","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T01:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=72115"},"modified":"2022-04-22T10:49:16","modified_gmt":"2022-04-22T00:49:16","slug":"will-le-pen-sway-france-in-second-tilt-against-macron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/will-le-pen-sway-france-in-second-tilt-against-macron\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Le Pen sway France in second tilt against Macron?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

Five years ago, when Marine Le Pen faced Emmanuel Macron<\/a> in the televised debate ahead of the second round of the French presidential election, she flunked the test. Taking an overly aggressive tone from the start, she was clearly out of her depth on economic issues, fecklessly flipping through her notes. In front of more than 16 million viewers, she lost 30,000 votes a minute over the course of the 2.5-hour debate, ceding 6% of the support<\/a> she had when the day began. A few days later, Macron won the election<\/a> in a landslide, 66% to 34%.<\/p>\n

Le Pen was back for a rematch<\/a> on Wednesday, in a much stronger position than she was five years ago, with polls giving her 45% support<\/a>\u2014although the dynamic seems to be in Macron\u2019s favour. She has learned from her mistakes by \u2018de-demonising\u2019 her party. She had already kicked out her father<\/a>, Jean-Marie Le Pen, for Holocaust denial, and in 2018 she renamed<\/a> the confrontational-sounding National Front (Front National<\/em>) the National Rally (Rassemblement National<\/em>), which has a more inclusive air and gives a nod to Rally of the French People (Le Rassemblement du peuple fran\u00e7ais<\/em>), the movement Charles de Gaulle led after World War II.<\/p>\n

Le Pen softened her image too, appearing with her cats<\/a> on Instagram and even taking selfies<\/a> with teenagers\u2014some of them veiled. She has spoken about how difficult it was growing up in the Le Pen household and the fractious relations<\/a> she has with her father and her niece, Marion Mar\u00e9chal, who backed the far-right neophyte \u00c9ric Zemmour\u2019s campaign in the first round. Le Pen also touted her experiences as a single mother<\/a>. She even managed to use her humiliation during the 2017 debate to her advantage, connecting it to the everyday slights people suffer and spinning her rebound in this year\u2019s campaign as an inspiring tale of hope prevailing over despair.<\/p>\n

In this, she was helped by Zemmour, whose nastiness made her appear more moderate and unifying\u2014an important component of a campaign strategy based on portraying Macron as the candidate who has divided France. She\u2019s toned down some of her policies, too, notably abandoning<\/a> her proposed referendum on leaving the euro, which in 2017 scared off older voters, who feared for their pensions, and also on the question of the death penalty, which she claims she no longer wants to restore<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So far, it\u2019s been working: Only half of the French population now see Le Pen as a threat to their society. Many younger voters have been attracted to her proposal to exempt<\/a> those under 30 from taxation, or to lower the value-added tax on gas and petrol to 5.5%\u2014an immensely popular proposal in a country facing a cost-of-living crisis, like much of the rest of the world, owing in part to the war in Ukraine. Most French people no longer seem to believe she will be able to implement her harsher proposals on immigration or even the veil<\/a>, which she wants to ban. French youth in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, one of the most ethnically diverse areas of the country, didn\u2019t believe she would implement the veil ban<\/a> because she \u2018isn\u2019t as bad as everyone says<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n

But is the mask starting to slip? With the media spotlight in the second round focusing on her program instead of her personality, the things that haven\u2019t changed since 2017 have come more clearly into view. That includes her proposal to insert<\/a> a \u2018national preference\u2019 clause into the constitution, thereby guaranteeing that native French would have priority over all others when applying for jobs, social housing and other services.<\/p>\n

After qualifying for the runoff with Macron, she also announced\u2014in the midst of the Ukraine war\u2014that France should seek a closer alliance<\/a> with Russia and leave NATO\u2019s integrated military command. And although she claims no longer to want to leave the EU, but rather to reform<\/a> it \u2018from within\u2019, her European policy has been described by commentators as a \u2018Frexit in all but name<\/a>\u2019. Even on a personal level, Le Pen has become tetchier with journalists and last week a protester was dragged<\/a> out of one of her campaign rallies.<\/p>\n

So, how did the debate go?<\/p>\n

Its mostly technocratic\u2014and cordial\u2014character, focusing on macroeconomic matters, played to Le Pen\u2019s normalisation. And while she seemed uncertain and hesitant on some issues, it was nothing like last time. Macron started strongly, getting the better of Le Pen on questions of the cost of living, and he was able to score points on her links with Russian President Vladimir Putin, particularly the financial ones, and her position on Europe. He consistently offered solutions to problems that Le Pen seemed happy just to raise, highlighting his competence, but he struggled to dispel his reputation for arrogance.<\/p>\n

Things threatened to change when the question of the veil was raised. Le Pen repeated her prohibitionist position<\/a>, and Macron accused her of fomenting civil war. But mostly the mask remained in place, and she seemed to be able to channel French popular anger. If anything, the debate staged two \u2018normal\u2019 candidates promoting their respective programs, however incoherent Le Pen\u2019s is.<\/p>\n

We will know on Sunday, after the vote, whether Le Pen\u2019s mask slipped any further. But what already seems certain is that she has made herself politically attractive to more voters than ever before. Win or lose, she and her party are not going away anytime soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Five years ago, when Marine Le Pen faced Emmanuel Macron in the televised debate ahead of the second round of the French presidential election, she flunked the test. Taking an overly aggressive tone from the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1542,"featured_media":72118,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2015,753,1905,291],"class_list":["post-72115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-domestic-politics","tag-election","tag-emmanuel-macron","tag-france"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWill Le Pen sway France in second tilt against Macron? | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/will-le-pen-sway-france-in-second-tilt-against-macron\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Will Le Pen sway France in second tilt against Macron? | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Five years ago, when Marine Le Pen faced Emmanuel Macron in the televised debate ahead of the second round of the French presidential election, she flunked the test. Taking an overly aggressive tone from the ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/will-le-pen-sway-france-in-second-tilt-against-macron\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-22T01:00:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-22T00:49:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1240113519.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hugo Drochon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hugo Drochon\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/will-le-pen-sway-france-in-second-tilt-against-macron\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1240113519.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1240113519.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":683,\"caption\":\"TOPSHOT - A picture shows a TV screen displaying a live televised between French President and La Republique en Marche (LREM) party candidate for re-election Emmanuel Macron (L) and French far-right party Rassemblement National (RN) presidential candidate Marine Le Pen (R), broadcasted on French TV channels TF1 and France 2, in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, ahead of the second round of France's presidential election. - French voters head to the polls for a run-off vote between Macron and Le Pen on April 24, 2022. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN \/ AFP) (Photo by LUDOVIC MARIN\/AFP via Getty Images)\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/will-le-pen-sway-france-in-second-tilt-against-macron\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/will-le-pen-sway-france-in-second-tilt-against-macron\/\",\"name\":\"Will Le Pen sway France in second tilt against Macron? | The Strategist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/will-le-pen-sway-france-in-second-tilt-against-macron\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-22T01:00:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-22T00:49:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/f383fd65d694445a2e300c132ee95fc4\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/will-le-pen-sway-france-in-second-tilt-against-macron\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/will-le-pen-sway-france-in-second-tilt-against-macron\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/will-le-pen-sway-france-in-second-tilt-against-macron\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Will Le Pen sway France in second tilt against Macron?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/f383fd65d694445a2e300c132ee95fc4\",\"name\":\"Hugo Drochon\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/643178eba58ffdeb75ba22cf99676076?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/643178eba58ffdeb75ba22cf99676076?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Hugo Drochon\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/hugo-drochon\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Will Le Pen sway France in second tilt against Macron? | The Strategist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/will-le-pen-sway-france-in-second-tilt-against-macron\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Will Le Pen sway France in second tilt against Macron? | The Strategist","og_description":"Five years ago, when Marine Le Pen faced Emmanuel Macron in the televised debate ahead of the second round of the French presidential election, she flunked the test. Taking an overly aggressive tone from the ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/will-le-pen-sway-france-in-second-tilt-against-macron\/","og_site_name":"The Strategist","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org","article_published_time":"2022-04-22T01:00:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-04-22T00:49:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":683,"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1240113519.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Hugo Drochon","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ASPI_org","twitter_site":"@ASPI_org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hugo Drochon","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/","name":"The Strategist","description":"ASPI's analysis and commentary site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/will-le-pen-sway-france-in-second-tilt-against-macron\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1240113519.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1240113519.jpg","width":1024,"height":683,"caption":"TOPSHOT - A picture shows a TV screen displaying a live televised between French President and La Republique en Marche (LREM) party candidate for re-election Emmanuel Macron (L) and French far-right party Rassemblement National (RN) presidential candidate Marine Le Pen (R), broadcasted on French TV channels TF1 and France 2, in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, ahead of the second round of France's presidential election. - French voters head to the polls for a run-off vote between Macron and Le Pen on April 24, 2022. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN \/ AFP) (Photo by LUDOVIC MARIN\/AFP via Getty Images)"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/will-le-pen-sway-france-in-second-tilt-against-macron\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/will-le-pen-sway-france-in-second-tilt-against-macron\/","name":"Will Le Pen sway France in second tilt against Macron? | The Strategist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/will-le-pen-sway-france-in-second-tilt-against-macron\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2022-04-22T01:00:40+00:00","dateModified":"2022-04-22T00:49:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/f383fd65d694445a2e300c132ee95fc4"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/will-le-pen-sway-france-in-second-tilt-against-macron\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/will-le-pen-sway-france-in-second-tilt-against-macron\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/will-le-pen-sway-france-in-second-tilt-against-macron\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Will Le Pen sway France in second tilt against Macron?"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/f383fd65d694445a2e300c132ee95fc4","name":"Hugo Drochon","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/643178eba58ffdeb75ba22cf99676076?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/643178eba58ffdeb75ba22cf99676076?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Hugo Drochon"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/hugo-drochon\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72115"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1542"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72115"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72122,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72115\/revisions\/72122"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}