Louis de Raguenel, edited by Gauthier Delomez
modified to
07:37, April 21, 2022
Candidate for re-election, outgoing President Emmanuel Macron kept pace against Marine Le Pen during the debate between the two rounds of the presidential election on Wednesday evening. “Emmanuel Macron keeps the advantage. He appeared more combative and more precise”, analyzes Louis de Raguenel, head of the political service of Europe 1, who however believes that Marine Le Pen was more empathetic.
Emmanuel Macron won the return match of the debate between the two rounds against Marine Le Pen on Wednesday evening. This is the analysis of Louis de Raguenel, head of the political service of Europe 1. Faced with his record, the outgoing president kept up the pace and he was more convincing than his opponent a few days before the second round of the presidential election. . Clearly, Emmanuel Macron keeps the advantage. At the level of rhetoric, the president-candidate appeared more combative and more precise. He showed until the end that he knew his files, on the economy and purchasing power.
Louis de Raguenel still makes a bad point for the outgoing president: by dint of wanting to take over Marine Le Pen at all costs, Emmanuel Macron has shown himself to be condescending, even professorial, on several occasions. And it’s not just rhetoric that is judged in a debate. It is a battle of perceptions which is judged by two Frances.
A Marine Le Pen more empathetic than Emmanuel Macron
What also attracts attention is empathy, the ability to put oneself at the level of the public, that is to say the French. From this point of view, it is Marine Le Pen who has scored points. The candidate for the National Rally has displayed real mastery. We felt that she absolutely wanted to wash away the failure of her failed debate in 2017. And we can say it, she succeeded. To end on Marine Le Pen, if she was less technical than Emmanuel Macron and even sometimes on the ropes, an adviser close to the president-candidate admitted last night that “many French people feeling downgraded or forgotten have identified with she”.
There was all the same an oversight in this debate: the stakes of civilization, the capacity of the two candidates to project the French in 2050 or in 2100. So, for Sunday, the gap could widen still a little between the two candidates, in favor of Emmanuel Macron. Before the debate on Wednesday evening, around 20% of French people had not yet made their choice. It is still difficult to know how the voters of Jean-Luc Mélenchon will vote. We will have the answer on Sunday evening, after the result of the second round of the presidential election.