PARIS — French MEP and presidential hopeful Raphaël Glucksmann’s attempt to shed his elitist image is at risk after an internal campaign document recommended limiting efforts to court working-class voters.
The memo, branded “confidential” but seen by POLITICO, aims to identify potential voter bases for Glucksmann ahead of his likely bid to replace term-limited President Emmanuel Macron. The 46-year-old European lawmaker is expected to soon join the crowded field of candidates in next year’s presidential election, and polling currently shows him within striking distance of making the runoff against far-right candidates Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella.
It says that the voters most likely to back Glucksmann — a more moderate social democrat who bucks his leftist peers on pension reform but is staunchly pro-Europe — are well-off, white-collar workers older than 50 or retired who identify with the Socialist Party or lean left-of-center.
The document advises avoiding “for now” voters ages 18 to 25, single parents and those with lower incomes, all of whom are deemed “more difficult to mobilize.”
It also recommends not trying too hard to woo voters from poorer, multicultural suburbs surrounding major French cities with strong immigrant populations, who are likely to support hard-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon. He announced his campaign earlier this month.
Those internal findings risk reinforcing the image of Glucksmann, the romantic partner of one of France’s most famous journalists and the son of a prominent philosopher, as a member of high society who is out of touch with the middle class.
But Glucksmann’s team downplayed the memo’s significance and stressed that it was merely a “working document.” Campaign strategist Mathieu Lefèvre-Marton, who drafted the memo, said that Glucksmann himself rejected the conclusions about which voters should be avoided, stressing the importance of “speaking to everyone,” including “those who don’t vote for the left.”
Polls show that Glucksmann and Mélenchon are currently the strongest left-wing candidates in the field, though a lot can change between now and the election next spring.
The two are expected to pursue diametrically opposed campaign strategies. Glucksmann is expected to try to win over the moderate left and siphon off centrist voters disenchanted with Macron’s tenure, while Mélenchon believes his unapologetically radical message will drive low-propensity voters — especially young people and those in urban working-class neighborhoods — to the polls.
Mélenchon’s deputies are already jumping on the leaked note.
“[Glucksmann] couldn’t care less about the poor, young people, single mothers, and working-class neighborhoods if they don’t bring him votes,” Paul Vannier, an MP for Mélenchon’s party, France Unbowed, wrote on X.
AI Brief
Your highlights
News
Politics
PARIS — French MEP and presidential hopeful Raphaël Glucksmann’s attempt to shed his elitist image is at risk after an internal campaign document recommended limiting efforts to court working-class voters.
The memo, branded “confidential” but seen by POLITICO, aims to identify potential voter bases for Glucksmann ahead of his likely bid to replace term-limited President Emmanuel Macron. The 46-year-old European lawmaker is expected to soon join the crowded field of candidates in next year’s presidential election, and polling currently shows him within striking distance of making the runoff against far-right candidates Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella.
It says that the voters most likely to back Glucksmann — a more moderate social democrat who bucks his leftist peers on pension reform but is staunchly pro-Europe — are well-off, white-collar workers older than 50 or retired who identify with the Socialist Party or lean left-of-center.
The document advises avoiding “for now” voters ages 18 to 25, single parents and those with lower incomes, all of whom are deemed “more difficult to mobilize.”
It also recommends not trying too hard to woo voters from poorer, multicultural suburbs surrounding major French cities with strong immigrant populations, who are likely to support hard-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon. He announced his campaign earlier this month.
Those internal findings risk reinforcing the image of Glucksmann, the romantic partner of one of France’s most famous journalists and the son of a prominent philosopher, as a member of high society who is out of touch with the middle class.
But Glucksmann’s team downplayed the memo’s significance and stressed that it was merely a “working document.” Campaign strategist Mathieu Lefèvre-Marton, who drafted the memo, said that Glucksmann himself rejected the conclusions about which voters should be avoided, stressing the importance of “speaking to everyone,” including “those who don’t vote for the left.”
Polls show that Glucksmann and Mélenchon are currently the strongest left-wing candidates in the field, though a lot can change between now and the election next spring.
The two are expected to pursue diametrically opposed campaign strategies. Glucksmann is expected to try to win over the moderate left and siphon off centrist voters disenchanted with Macron’s tenure, while Mélenchon believes his unapologetically radical message will drive low-propensity voters — especially young people and those in urban working-class neighborhoods — to the polls.
Mélenchon’s deputies are already jumping on the leaked note.
“[Glucksmann] couldn’t care less about the poor, young people, single mothers, and working-class neighborhoods if they don’t bring him votes,” Paul Vannier, an MP for Mélenchon’s party, France Unbowed, wrote on X.