It’s day and night. After a dotted, risk-free first-round campaign, Emmanuel Macron decided on Sunday to pass the third without starting with the second. The candidate president was in Alsace on Tuesday, with an outdoor meeting in Strasbourg. He was in Hauts-de-France on Monday. With each time long, even very long, moments of exchange with the population. After having led a campaign perceived as remote since his declaration of candidacy, at the beginning of March, it is a question of playing close proximity.
“It may be said that it is a second round campaign ”project against project”, it is above all a battle of images”, believes the founding president of La French Com, Florian Silnicki. In view of the second round, he believes that Emmanuel Macron must fight on three fronts: the accusation of disconnection, the criticisms of the short time he has devoted to the campaign and those made about the absence of debate. before the first round. This is not entirely new: the president has been practicing these moments of fairly intense exchanges for a long time, and obviously appreciates the performance side of playing this game for hours on end.
Not easy terrain
And the perverse effect is known: that of seeing an image emerge of an exchange that is a little more tense than the others, with a response that is a little quick, or a little contemptuous on the part of Emmanuel Macron. As with the “just cross the street” to find a job. And we got it right. In Denain on Monday, the candidate had a long discussion, on a lot of subjects, with a nurse who hadn’t left to vote for Macron on April 24. Annoyed by questions about wearing a mask, Emmanuel Macron dares a “you are not in real life”. ” We ? Are you telling us that, Mr. Macron? ! “Tuesday, at Châtenois, in Alsace, an adviser to Emmanuel Macron even intervened when, after a long conversation with a resident, the president dropped him: “You, it gets mixed up a lot in your head! »
“When we go to the field, we meet convinced, hesitant and dissatisfied people, it is the corollary of this type of campaign”, relativizes the spokesperson for La République en Marche, Maud Bregeon. It is true that the president, especially on Monday in Hauts-de-France, did not choose easy ground: in Denain, for example, on Sunday he did not reach 15%. Against 28% for Jean-Luc Mélenchon and more than 41% for Marine Le Pen. “We will never blame the president for trying to convince, even with a little confrontation,” adds the walker.
An opportunity and a risk
In reality, from a communication point of view, this type of walkabout sequences and exchanges “are as much an opportunity as a risk. Because all the little phrases he has had throughout his five-year term have greatly tarnished his image, ”believes Florian Silnicki.
Emmanuel Macron has all the same been moved a lot these last two days. So much so that the journalists present on his trip on Monday had the impression that his opening on a retirement age of 64 instead of 65 was improvised. Tuesday, while at the same time Marine Le Pen presented his institutional proposals, the outgoing said he was personally open to full proportional representation and the presidential seven-year term… Like his opponent in the second round. Two measures which do not, however, appear in its program. At the risk of sounding like a compass in search of votes for April 24?
Concern for consistency
Not at all, explains Maud Bregeon of course: “Our project is not a project tied up from A to Z, it is possible to discuss. Since entering the campaign Emmanuel Macron has constantly said that we must change the method of decision-making. We learn the lessons of the past five-year term. “Since his long press conference presenting his program, Emmanuel Macron has never ceased to praise “the consistency” of it. “And it is essential as an issue for all the candidates, recalls Florian Silnicki. However, it has never been very restrictive for Emmanuel Macron. He has always sold a vision of France, not a program, that was already the case in 2017. It allows him to counter arguments about his inconsistencies and suggest that ultimately, anything is possible. »
With a view to gathering in a second round, this can, perhaps, be effective. For the moment, if we believe the polls, Emmanuel Macron seems to have given himself a little air with between 53 and 55%, a little better than at the end of last week.