Emmanuel Macron with young people, during the presentation of the Pass Culture in Nevers in May 2021. – Thibault Camus / AP / SIPA
- In recent days, Emmanuel Macron has communicated with representatives of youth (video with McFly and Carlito, meeting with the president of Fage…) and announced measures intended for those under 30.
- This shows its desire to win back young people within a year of the presidential election and to take them into account in its strategy after Covid-19.
- Gestures which appeal to some of the youth, but which leave the rest unmoved. Because the problems of precariousness and professional integration of many young people are far from being resolved.
Priority to young people. The health situation improving in France, Emmanuel Macron wants to give a boost to his actions towards those under 30 years old. In recent weeks, all veins have been exploited. That of tailor-made communication, with the broadcast on Sunday of a video with McFly and Carlito, where we see the president engaging in a “anecdotes competition” with the duo of Youtubers, interspersed with a call to Kylian Mbappé. A video that displayed 12 million views this Sunday. Last week, the president also met with the president of Fage, the first student organization. “It was the first time since his election. We felt that he was sensitive to the alert sent by intermediary bodies and civil society concerning the worrying situation of young people, ”comments Paul Mayaux.
The vein of political action is also widely exploited. On Friday, Emmanuel Macron unveiled the Culture Pass
endowed with 300 euros and intended for 800,000 young people aged 18. The same day the government announced that the vaccination of people over 18 would be advanced and would start on May 31. At the end of April, an online simulator called the Compass was launched to allow young people to identify the financial measures to which they are entitled. And the sequence is far from over, as the Elysée indicates to 20 minutes : “The president will make announcements for young people by the summer”. According to our information, this could be an extension of the youth guarantee, i.e. aid 500 euros per month, granted to those under 25 who have neither training nor employment, with support from local missions to help them integrate.
“It is a necessary step in a period of presidential pre-campaign”
A desire to address signs of attention to young people who are part of a particular electoral calendar. Since less than a year separates us from the presidential election. “It is a necessary step in a period of presidential pre-campaign to address young people. Marine Le Pen, Fabien Roussel and Xavier Bertrand did so recently. Especially since talking to young people means addressing their parents indirectly by reassuring them about the future of their children. And the politicians have a diffusionist vision of youth: they think that young people are in the vanguard on certain subjects and that their opinions infuse in the electorate ”, explains to 20 minutes Frédéric Dabi, Director General of Ifop.
Communicating with young people in this period of deconfinement also seems essential according to the political scientist: “A part of the youth has suffered a lot from the Covid-19 crisis. And those under 30 are the category that most seeks to project themselves into the post-crisis period. We have to give them perspectives ”.
“Macron did not provide real answers to the precariousness of young people”
A strategy that seems rather to bear fruit … at first glance. According to an Ifop survey for Sunday Newspaper, The presidential popularity rating, Emmanuel Macron is progressing among the youngest, with 51% of favorable opinions among 18-24 year olds, 8 points more than in April. “He appears as a young president who stands out from his predecessors,” comments Fredéric Dabi. But according to Mélanie Luce, president of UNEF, a not insignificant part of 18-24 year olds remain critical of the action of the Head of State: “The young people who line up during food distributions remain the government’s blind spot. Emmanuel Macron did not provide real answers to the precariousness of young people and he refused to open the RSA for at least 25 years, ”she said.
According to Paul Mayaux, students of this age group could also blame the president for a kind of delay in igniting young people: “At the start of the health crisis, he did not speak much to young people. Even, if that changed from October 2020 with its famous sentence “It’s hard to be 20 years old in 2020″ and the measures that followed [repas à 1 euro, hausse des aides d’urgence, « chèques psy », aide de 150 euros pour les boursiers et bénéficiaires des APL…]”. And according to the president of the Fage, certain essential measures have still not been taken:” We must revalue the student grants for the next school year and set up a student back-to-school allowance “, he believes.
What about their votes in 2022?
Moreover, according to the Ifop barometer /The JDD, the popularity rating of the president among 25-34 year olds is lower than among the youngest (42% satisfied). No wonder according to Frédéric Dabi: “This is the generation of integration, the one who struggles to integrate into a crisis context. As Apec recently showed, recruitments of young graduates fell by 26% in 2020 due to the health crisis. And their professional integration difficulties could leave traces on the course of their career. Which could leave them with a bitter taste in 2022.
In addition to this, you need to know more about it.
Finally, even by managing to seduce part of the youth, Emmanuel Macron could not be sure that this positive opinion would turn into a vote for him in 2022, indicates Frédéric Dabi. “Popularity does not imply voting, because young people abstain a lot. In the second round of the presidential election in 2017, abstention reached 34% among 18-24 year olds, and rose to 40% among 25-34 year olds, ”he recalls. “I fear that with what young people have experienced since the health crisis, this figure will be even higher,” says Mélanie Luce.