The day after the debate between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, people from Dijon give us their opinion on the performance of the two candidates and on the interest, or not, of organizing a debate between the two rounds.
Marine Le Pen, black suit and white blouse on one side. Emmanuel Macron, navy blue suit and tie turning black on the other. If the last contenders in the race for the Élysée are opposed on many points, yesterday they came together in the choice of a certain sartorial classicism on the sidelines of the between rounds debate.
Since its creation in 1974, the duel with verbal jousting between the presidential finalists is one of the most anticipated moments of a campaign. But this Thursday, April 21, the day after the debates between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, it is difficult to bring out sentences, or punchlines according to your vision of things, which will leave a mark in the history of France. The 2022 vintage of between-two-round exchanges will not have its “monopoly of the heart”, son “You are absolutely right Mr Prime Minister”or his “me, president”.
No, viewers will have finally followed cordial, sometimes very technical exchanges between two candidates with different postures. A Marine Le Pen who played the card of sobriety, in order to gain credibility after a performance in 2017 which traumatized her. And an Emmanuel Macron who tried to be less professorial than 5 years ago when defending his record.
2h45 of exchanges on purchasing power, international affairs, the social model, the environment, French attractiveness, youth, security, immigration or even institutions, including Emmanuel Macron seems to emerge victorious. 59% of French people found the outgoing president more convincing according to an Elabe poll, against 39% for his rival National Rally.
Met on Place François Rude in Dijon, Steve*, a young student shares the general opinion of the French and makes Emmanuel Macron the winner of the debate. “His ease marked me. He seemed sure of himself, like 5 years ago. He seemed prepared. He knew what to say and how to say things to reach Marine Le Pen”he judges.
Sophie was also convinced by Emmanuel Macron. The Dijonnaise still found Marine Le Pen more efficient than 5 years ago. “She was more prepared and less aggressive. She talked more about her program. But Emmanuel Macron was ready, he managed to counter all her arguments”.
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Still in the city center of Dijon, Marie, she is more doubtful. “Nobody stepped out of their comfort zone. I’m not convinced, either by one or the other. I found Marine Le Pen relatively calm, she defended herself a lot. And Emmanuel Macron was more about the attack. He made fun of her a bit at times. But it’s about the form, about the substance, there’s nothing new”.
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Karine, too, fails to determine a winner. The young woman especially regrets the lack of place given to ecology in the program of two candidates. “It is not up to the current stakes. It is very regrettable”.
In downtown Dijon, we also spoke with several citizens who did not want to watch the exchanges between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen. Voters thus no longer seem to see the inter-round debate as a determining element of the campaign.
According to an Ifop barometer, 14% of those questioned before the show were waiting for the exchange to choose who they will vote for on April 24. And only 36% of French people were impatient to follow the televised duel. “This debate did not help me know who I was going to vote for, it confused me more than anything else”, confides Sébastien.
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The event, a true tradition since its creation in 1974, is it now too disconnected from the expectations of the French? All the more so at the heart of an election where candidates, including Marine Le Pen, have opted for a campaign as close as possible to voters to avoid appearing too far from the field. “The mechanics of the debate are completely worn out, slice Sophie. We should modernize all that, especially now with social networks”.
Luc also advocates for a modernization of the formula in order to revive viewers’ interest in the debate. “The format is a bit stupid. I find that the debate between the two rounds is not very useful. The vast majority of people have already made their choice. It’s good to see the personalities who face, but it’s not going to change things at all”.
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On Wednesday evening, the debate was followed by 15.5 million viewers, all channels combined, or 67.7% of the public. This is the lowest score in history for a duel between two turns. For example, in 2017, the first Le Pen / Macron clash brought together 16.4 million people in front of their screens, already signing the worst audience for such a program.
Since 2007, there has been a real erosion of the audience for the debate between the two rounds, with a loss of nearly 4.5 million viewers.
If the two finalists in this presidential election stopped everything for a few days to prepare for the debate, some viewers did not choose to break with their habits this Wednesday evening.
*The first names of our interlocutors have been changed.
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