What city Le Pen phenomenon?
Opinion polls show that Le Pen's support in this presidential election mainly comes from two different classes: [3] First, the petty bourgeoisie in the backward areas of eastern and southeastern France has a long tradition of right-wing populism, which can be traced back to the Poujade movement in the 1950s. Another major source is the elderly blue-collar workers in the north and northeast. About a quarter (26%) of manual workers, workers and voters whose monthly income is less than 1500 euros voted for Le Pen. In addition, Le Pen is supported by 32% small businessmen and craftsmen, and voters below the middle class who are subject to social problems also support Le Pen. From the analysis of the votes obtained by Le Pen, he won the support of 20% men and 14% women. His biggest supporters are the unemployed (38%) and blue-collar workers (26%). [4]
One month before this presidential election, it was predicted that Le Pen might not become a presidential candidate, which was the first time since 198 1. The reason is that it is difficult for him to get the signatures of 500 members from 30 provinces and overseas territories. Before the first round of voting, recent opinion polls ranked Le Pen in the third or fourth place, and it is estimated that he may get 10% to 15% of the votes. [5] But everything was unexpected. Le Pen became a dark horse in this French presidential election, which not only defeated the Socialist candidate Jospin, but also paved the way for the successful election of the right-wing candidate Chirac.
The appearance of Le Pen phenomenon is by no means a historical accident. From an international point of view, in an increasingly globalized world, "turbo capitalism" may take only a few days to destroy the local culture that took centuries to build. [6] This phenomenon reflects people's fear of immigrants brought about by globalization and European integration. From the domestic factors, this presidential election is characterized by low turnout, large number of candidates and high abstention rate (about 28%), which reflects the degree of diversification and differentiation of French society, and reveals the dissatisfaction of French voters with the incompetence of the two major political parties in dealing with crimes, unemployment, immigration and other issues and the increasing convergence of their policy programs.
Although there are still some differences between Chirac and Jospin, the presidential candidates of the two major political parties, for example, Jospin tried to please the working class by providing extra training and tax cuts for the lowest income group, while Chirac tried to please capitalists by cutting income tax. However, these two people with diametrically opposite political positions put forward strikingly similar election platforms: [7] They both promised to build a safer, richer and more competitive France. Jospin denied the relationship between his campaign and socialism, while Chirac emphasized non-conservative values such as unity and environmental protection. They all vowed to set up a super organization to fight the rising crime rate in France, and promised to improve the environmental situation, curb the negative impact of globalization, reduce taxes and further reduce the unemployment rate.
Chirac and Jospin have become Tweed Del and Tweed Deldi in French politics, and 70% of French voters can't distinguish their platforms. [8] Both Chirac and Jospin can no longer provide real choices for the French. [9] The campaign platform they put forward is indistinguishable, vague and nothing new, and the campaign launched from it is cold and lifeless. [10] In the end, both of them had to focus on the fight against crime, which was actually played by Le Pen between applause. [ 1 1]
The candidate platforms of the two major political parties converge, which leads to the dissatisfaction and indifference of voters. A poll before the election has clearly explained this point: [12] Most voters don't seem to care much about this election. Only 1 1% voters are particularly interested in the election, and 27% voters are "moderately interested". When voters were asked what prompted them to vote for Le Pen, 73% thought it was "law and order", 30% thought it was immigration, and 16% thought it was taxes, pensions and unemployment. One third of the respondents replied that this was to express their dissatisfaction with the current president and prime minister.
Like voters in other western European countries, the French feel that they have been ignored and abandoned by the political ruling elite and are increasingly alienated from them. What French voters are dissatisfied with is not this kind of democratic politics in France, but the theme, performance and behavior put forward by politics. ..... They didn't say what people wanted to say and didn't share people's worries. [13] The disillusioned French only play the third way [14]-choose Le Pen.
Far-right parties have successfully exploited the dissatisfaction and indifference of voters, "combining their condemnation of social ills, mainly large-scale unemployment, social exclusion, rising crime rate and continuous immigration of foreigners, with a simple and clear way to identify the enemy, claiming that foreigners and a political class generally branded with corruption and incompetence are the root of all evils", and the resulting simple confrontation strategy is: repatriating foreign immigrants to their countries of birth, The far-right party "relies on this political prescription, and in the current social crisis, because of the weakness of the Social Democratic Party in promoting its own alternatives, after all, it can win one-fifth of the voters who are disappointed with parliamentary party politics".
Le Pen phenomenon is not only one of the results of the decline of the French left, but also a sign of the further decline of the European left, including the French Socialist Party. The revival of the European right wing, including the extreme right wing, has brought the Social Democratic Party and its social democracy into crisis.