Macron at his lowest point: his approval rating falls to 11%, equaling Hollande's record low.

Record unpopularity that puts him back in the footsteps of François Hollande : Emmanuel Macron sees his approval rating plummet to 11% according to a Verian poll for Le Figaro magazine published Thursday, a mirror of a political crisis that continues to worsen and a "deep" and "structural" divorce with the French.

Down five points compared to the previous barometer in September, the head of state is suffering in particular a sharp drop (-11 points) among those over 65 and among retirees (-9 points).

He thus joins the lowest record reached by his socialist predecessor François Hollande in November 2016. At the time, Emmanuel Macron was breaking away from his mentor and was in the midst of his political rise.

Conversely, his Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu , has seen his approval rating rise by five points to 26% since his appointment on September 9. Unlike the President, he enjoys the support of those aged 65 and over (+7 points) and retirees (+9 points).

“Of course, there’s a contextual effect, with a feeling of extreme weariness in the country regarding this kind of endless political saga, where nobody understands anything anymore,” notes political scientist Bruno Cautrès. “And there’s also the feeling that Emmanuel Macron is responsible, since he took responsibility for dissolving the National Assembly” in June 2024, which plunged the country into crisis, due to the failure to produce any majority, he adds.

Since the legislative elections that followed, three Prime Ministers, Michel Barnier, François Bayrou and Sébastien Lecornu, have succeeded one another, all with the same challenge: to pass a budget without being censured.

Currently, the National Assembly is struggling, through sometimes improbable alliances, to weave and unravel taxes and duties, and to try to find compromises on the 2026 budget .

In this political and legislative turmoil, yesterday's hyper-president claims to have given "carte blanche" to his new Prime Minister and to remain aloof from domestic issues in order to concentrate on international affairs.

But old habits die hard. Thus , on October 21, he proclaimed from Slovenia that the pension reform was not "suspended" but only "postponed", at the risk of contradicting and weakening Sébastien Lecornu.

Emmanuel Macron has also embarked on new "battles" , such as the fight against the perverse effects of social networks on democracy, in full consistency, according to his entourage, with his role as guarantor of institutions and national independence.

From Ukraine to the recognition of Palestine , for which he took the lead at the UN in September, Emmanuel Macron also wants to be omnipresent on the international stage.

But French public opinion is primarily obsessed with domestic issues, the budgetary situation, and political instability.

The risk now is that his popularity will fall below 10%, with a single-digit rating that would be unprecedented. The political scientist believes the "deep and structural" disconnect with public opinion would become "total."