One person has been killed and more than 500 injured since the main protests on Saturday, with the interior ministry warning that the movement was yielding “violent and racist acts”. The survey, conducted by pollster Opinionway for LCI television, shows that only 29 per cent of French people are “satisfied” with their young leader, compared with 69 percent who are “dissatisfied”. A more comprehensive Ifop poll of 1,957 people for the weekly Le Journal du Dimanche also showed Mr Macron’s popularity struggling to crawl back up to the 30 percent mark.
The poll, which was carried out between November 9 and November 17 and also published on Sunday, showed just 25 percent of French people polled are satisfied with his performance, while 73 percent said they were “unhappy” with his actions.
However, an Odoxa poll published on Tuesday showed Mr Macron’s approval rating at 32 percent.
But the poll, conducted for France Inter radio, L’Express daily and la presse régionale, also showed that 68 percent of the French have a “bad opinion” of the 40-year-old centrist.
Mr Macron, who won power 18 months ago on a promise to reshape the economy and overhaul France’s outdated institutions, has shrugged off poor ratings to push through a series of reforms, including a loosening of labour laws and public spending cuts.
But a recent move to introduce fuel tax hikes to encourage drivers to switch to less-polluting cars has infuriated the French, as the extra cost began to bite in October when global oil prices surged.
Mr Macron wants to close the gap between the price of diesel fuel and gasoline as part of his strategy to wean France off fossil fuels. A “carbon trajectory” calls for continued increases, particularly on diesel.
Taxes on diesel fuel have gone up seven cents and are to keep climbing, while the tax on gasoline is set to increase by four cents.
Angry drivers and other demonstrators, many accusing Mr Macron of being the “president of the rich” and out of touch with ordinary people, gridlocked France’s roads on Saturday in a grassroots campaign dubbed the “yellow vests” that drew nearly 288,000 protesters.
Since the main protests on Saturday, one person has been killed and 528 people have been injured — 17 seriously, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said on Monday.
The figure did not include the 92 police officers who were injured in clashes between drivers and demonstrators, two of them seriously.
Mr Castaner added while the protests had grown smaller, they were yielding “a multiplication of violent acts, racist acts, anti-Semitic acts and vandalism”.
But the government has vowed to stand firm against the tidal wave of protests, with Prime Minister Edouard Philippe saying on Sunday that the fuel tax hikes would remain in place despite the tensions.
He told France 2 television: “I hear what the French are saying. It’s very clear but a government that zigzags according to the difficulties, what too many past governments have done, that won’t lead France to where it must be.
“The course we set is good and we will keep it. It’s not when the wind blows that you change course.”
The Opinionway poll of 1,064 people was carried out between November 14 and November 15, while the Odoxa poll of 1,005 people was carried out between November 15 and November 16.