Macron talks French rap and ‘Web 3’ to court disenchanted youth vote – POLITICO

Paris-He avoids old traditional media such as Lemond and Liberation, and has three websites for trendy millennials and PlayStation gamers: Brut, Jeuxvideo.com, and The Big Whale. I talked.

And on Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke on public radio about the soft spots of French rapper Orelsan, known for his keen social observations, and gave a 45-minute interview to the website Booska-P. .. “A reference site for the culture of young urban people”.

In the final dash before Sunday’s presidential election, Macron, who has a healthy lead in polls, looked like the cool, 44-year-old president of his time. But above all, he is delaying the youth’s vote. This is some of the voters he is having a hard time winning.

Earlier this month, in the first round of the presidential election, many young people abstained or voted for the far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon.

“There is a perception among young people that Macron is not implementing policies in favor of young people,” said Jan Daniel Levy, political and polling director at analysis firm Harris Interactive. “They feel he hasn’t embodied their concerns about the environment … he didn’t talk about it, he didn’t act on it.”

“Sometimes I’m aware, but I don’t have a desire for Macron,” Levi added, calling the president a “young old man.”

According to the Insee Institute of Statistics in Paris, France is an aging country, but there are more than 15 million voters between the ages of 20 and 39. As the campaign progressed, Macron increased interviews with millennial outlets and visited areas where young voters lived.

In the Sandoni commune in northern Paris, Macron this week talked about the young, diverse and predominantly working-class community and immigrants and scarves that greatly boosted Melenchon in the first round of the election.

At Jeuxvideos.com, one of France’s leading video game websites, the president pays homage to French video game developers such as Ubisoft, Quantic Dream and Ankama, saying, “We have jewels like us. There are few countries. “

Macron said the new online platform dedicated to blockchain and cryptocurrencies, The Big Whale, and a new kind of decentralized internet service, Web 3, is an “e-sports” or Team Vitality. Esports as “another area of ​​excellence in France”, citing esports teams such as and Karmine Corp.

Macron spoke with Booska-P and was asked by police about sexual violence, Islamophobia, and youth employment insecurity.

Despite hanging out with children and talking about rap and technology, Macron struggles to get through young voters on key concerns such as climate change and social inequality.

A recent Ipsos poll found that nearly half of people aged 18-24 and 25-34 did not vote in the first round of the April 10 elections. Ages 25-29 were unable to vote in either of the two rounds.

In the first round, young voters flock to Melenchon, and Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who is Macron’s opponent in Sunday’s final vote, has broader support than the president among voters aged 25 to 64. I got it.

Melenchon’s proposal to abolish nuclear power, industrial agriculture and pesticides was a special touch among young people, and his advocacy for cultural fusion between the various French communities resonated with young French immigrants. is.

Veteran far-left leaders also won in the big suburbs of France, winning more than 60% in Saint-Denis and 40% in Seine-Saint-Denis, one of France’s youngest populations.

In contrast, Macron’s proposal for climate change does not seem to convince young voters.

Last month, the Action Climate Network, a coalition of national and local associations advocating climate change, published a critical study of Macron’s policy proposals.

“We find that we are with two people who are not taking the climate crisis seriously: Marine Le Pen, which is not a problem, and Emmanuel Macron, who doesn’t talk much about it. [today] 23-year-old climate activist Camille Etienne told the HuffPost.