Has Macron turned France into America’s poodle?

A notable feature of how the French public view the war in Ukraine is that the strongest support for its continuation is among voters who identify as Centrists and Socialists. Those most in favour of a peace settlement are backers of the left-wing Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the right-wing Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour.

A poll in December revealed that 69 per cent of the former and 77 per cent of the latter would prefer that negotiations take precedence over the delivery of weapons to Ukraine, a number that rose to 88 per cent among Zemmour loyalists. These dropped to 57 per cent for Socialists and 60 per cent for supporters of Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party. 

The majority of Socialists and Centrists in France are from the same demographic, the affluent middle-class, and it may be that they are not as anxious about the rising energy bills and petrol prices as those who vote for Mélenchon and Le Pen, the majority of whom are blue-collar workers – or students, in the case of Mélenchon.