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April 7th, 2022 
Awake Goy 
French voters will take to the polls on 10 April to vote in the first round of the presidential election.
While incumbent president Emmanuel Macron is leading in the polls, his rivals have recently cut into some of his support and polls also show that around a quarter of voters remain undecided. The abstention rate could be at a record high.
Euronews spoke to French voters at a food market in Lyon, France, where some people said they were uncertain who to choose and that it was often about picking the least-worst option among the candidates.
Clement, 36, said he’s planning on voting for Green Party candidate Yannick Jadot in the first round of the election after taking a web quiz that said the ecologist was the candidate most aligned with his views.
“The environment is the most important subject, and it is the subject that politicians talk about the least so it makes sense to vote for (Jadot) at least give him a chance even if I don’t know if it will work,” he said.
He thinks that Jadot isn’t polling as high as other candidates because voters think that he won’t have enough power to change things.
Clement is planning on voting for Emmanuel Macron in the second round if the president is up against a far-right candidate.
Laure, a 54-year-old who works at a public hospital in Lille, told Euronews that normally she votes for the Greens but that this year she doesn’t like the candidate.
“I think I will vote for the communists,” she said. “Everyone is a little bit Green this year anyway, it’s trending,” she said.
But she added that for her it’s important to vote no matter what.
“The right to vote for women hasn’t been around for so long so I make it a point of honour to vote in every election,” she added.
Lionel said he doesn’t plan on voting in the upcoming election and doesn’t think politics has an impact on his life.
“It’s been the same candidates for 20, 30 years now,” he said. “We’re all going to end up retiring at 65, that’s all, or maybe even 70.”
French President Emmanuel Macron says if re-elected, he will increase the retirement age from 62 to 65, while other candidates have proposed lowering the retirement age.
Lionel added that when he has previously voted in the first round of the election, he typically voted for the far-left.
Vincent and Evelyne Pras said they would vote for far-right leader Marine Le Pen for the first time after having a Macron “overdose”.
“It’s the only person who talks about the reality of what we’re living every day,” said 54-year-old Evelyne Pras, who works for a religious charity that helps the poor and elderly. “The priority should be purchasing power.”
“We both are working and can’t make ends meet,” said 55-year-old Vincent Pras, an entrepreneur. He criticised Emmanuel Macron’s campaign rally, saying the incumbent president “thinks he’s God”.
In 2017, Vincent voted for Macron in the second round of the election but says he won’t do that again. Both Vincent and Evelyne said it’s very important to vote as previous generations had fought for the right to do so.
Rafael, a 69-year-old who does renovation work, said that he was planning on voting for the far-right TV pundit Eric Zemmour.
Rafael said Zemmour — who has been convicted for provoking racial discrimination — was the most patriotic of the candidates and would best defend France.
“He’s isn’t a politician, it’s someone who doesn’t need politics in order to live his life, so it’s really about his convictions,” he said. “For me, politics isn’t a career, it’s your beliefs.”
Arnaud, a 25-years-old engineer and Audrey, a 25-year-old costume designer, plan on voting for far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, saying he’s the only candidate who has addressed many of the key issues important to them.
“It’s the only political programme on the left that’s coherent and that also could be supported by left voters,” said Arnaud. Mélenchon is currently polling third after Macron and Le Pen.
“I think Melenchon responds more to what’s happening right now and I hope that it will lead to something,” Audrey said, adding that Melenchon is planning to invest one billion euros to combat gender-based violence.
Arnaud said he was not sure if he would vote for Macron in a second round of the election if the president faced Le Pen.
“I did (vote for Macron in the second round) in the last election, but I’m not sure I would do it again because I’m not sure Macron was much different from the far-right,” he said.
Camille Maurin, 22, and Louis Peponnet, 23, said that they would probably vote for the current president Emmanuel Macron.
“It’ll be more of a choice of the least-worst candidate than the best,” Maurin said. “With what’s happening in Ukraine, that pushes me to go with Emmanuel Macron.”
“He’s already handling the crisis so the question is whether it’s better to change now or to keep going in the same direction.”
“He seems to be good at what he’s doing,” added Peponnet.
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