The quote comes up regularly in the mouths of the tenors of the right, as if to remember a political ancestry that they want to illustrate. «The RPF [le Rassemblement du peuple français], it’s the metro at 6 o’clock in the evening”, said André Malraux, in reference to the employees, workers and other employees who left work at that time. Within the Les Républicains (LR) party, where General de Gaulle’s heritage is regularly claimed, we like to repeat that today more than ever it is necessary to address this category of French people, commonly identified like the popular classes. Without them, tirelessly repeats the president of the party, Christian Jacob, the right cannot win. And to recall the examples of Nicolas Sarkozy, in 2007, with his ” Work more to earn more “ or Jacques Chirac, who was victorious by highlighting the social divide in 1995.
Only here, the modest employees, employees, workers seem to have deserted the party. Preferring him for many the National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen. A situation, true for François Fillon in 2017, and which is also true, at this stage, for the candidacy of Valérie Pécresse in the presidential election today. The fourth wave of the electoral survey, carried out by Ipsos-Sopra Steria in partnership with the Sciences Po Political Research Center (Cevipof) and the Jean Jaurès Foundation for The world, published on Saturday January 22, shows it well. In the voting intentions of the first round, 10% of employees and 8% of workers vote for Valérie Pécresse. On the other hand, 22% of employees and 34% of workers say they want to vote for Marine Le Pen. If he does not do as well as his far-right opponent, Emmanuel Macron, who in many respects is aimed at the same electorate as Mme Pécresse, does better than her on this segment.
Signals
Frédéric Dabi, managing director of the IFOP polling institute, insists: “The working classes left the right a long time ago, so it is totally exogenous to Valérie Pécresse. » The expert also recalls that if he has “succeeded in challenging the hegemony of the National Front [aujourd’hui RN], Nicolas Sarkozy, either, did not come out on top in this segment”. However, according to INSEE, these are categories that weigh heavily in the population as a whole: France has 12.6% of workers and 16.7% of employees. Voters including Mme Pécresse might need to make a difference with the President of the Republic, who has been “poaching” since his arrival on LR land. The President of the Republic outperforms, in fact, with executives and retirees, the historical electorate of the right.
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