Presidential candidate Mélenchon bets on young voters in France — Politico Europe

French presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon is counting on mobilizing young people, residents of working-class suburbs and voters with immigrant roots to reach the second round of the 2027 election. As Politico Europe reports, his likely opponent in the second round could be far-right favorite Marine Le Pen.

Support among young people

According to a Cluster17 poll conducted for Politico, Mélenchon shares second place with center-right candidate Édouard Philippe, with both receiving 19% support. Another poll conducted by Harris Interactive showed Mélenchon at 18% and Philippe at 16%. Le Pen received more than 30% in both surveys.

The Cluster17 poll also found that Mélenchon is supported by 47% of respondents under the age of 35. Le Pen, who ranked second among this group, received 22%. Strategists from Mélenchon’s France Unbowed party believe that his platform can encourage people who will vote for the first time to take part in the election.

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Campaign in the suburbs

Mélenchon contrasts himself with Le Pen, who promotes anti-immigration positions, and advances his own vision of a “new France” based on diversity linked to immigration. His opponents accuse the politician of using identity politics and attempting to secure the support of minorities, including Muslims.

France Unbowed cites the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis as an example, where a significant number of working-class people and people of immigrant origin live. In the first round of the 2022 presidential election, Mélenchon received nearly 50% of the vote there, although turnout was 61.2%, compared with a national average of 73.7%.

At the same time, the politician remains a controversial figure: 73% of Cluster17 respondents said they could hardly or not at all imagine voting for the leader of France Unbowed. The figure for Le Pen was 62%. Polls also indicate that Mélenchon could lose substantially to Le Pen in the second round, although pollsters caution against drawing early conclusions about such a scenario.