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Image: A supporter of Yannick Jadot attaching one of his campaign posters. Credit: AFP.PARIS, France — Michelle Plute is a retired pharmacologist who describes herself as a “very green” activist. Today she is joining a “Look Up!” march for the climate, in Paris. Facing low temperatures and mild rain, she walks for over three hours to the sound of music and drums, helping her peers hold a street-wide banner that reads “For an Ecological Republic!”
The march was composed of several different subgroups, from NGOs to political parties. Like a carnival parade, many of them wore matching outfits or carried flags and banners that distinguished their identity from other groups.
Michelle’s group was led by Yannick Jadot, the Green Party’s candidate for the upcoming French presidential election. Standing at the very end of the march, they were the last group to depart, accompanied by members of ‘Génération.s’ (sic), a left-wing party that is supporting the candidate. Plot twist: the two parties combined only amounted to about 200 people – a surprisingly low turnout for a climate rally that attracted over 32,000 in Paris.
“Jadot represents the political battle of all ecologists in general. Today we’re a small group only because of the bad weather,” Michelle says. But is bad weather really the only culprit?
As it turns out, the low numbers behind the Greens’ movement aren’t exclusive to this particular event. Less than a week away from the first round of the presidential election, Jadot is polling sixth with less than 5% of voting intentions. All despite the fact that the environment is now one of the main concerns for French voters.
The Green Party has come a long way in recent years. It scored an impressive 13,42% in the 2019 European Parliament elections, and claimed several major cities at regional elections. But their performance in the French presidential race has left environmentalists wondering why Jadot’s climate rhetoric isn’t converting to votes. As the IPCC’s latest report sounds the alarm on a “now or never” dash to a low-carbon economy and society, the reasons behind the party’s unpopularity amongst left-wing voters remain a mystery to most of its supporters.
An ecological party more so than a people’s party
As the crowds move forward, a heap of cardboards and flags fill the streets of Paris. Only a few steps ahead of Michelle, a particular set of purple posters stand out – that of the “Popular Union”.
“Popular Union” was the name that socialist candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon chose for his 2022 presidential campaign. Aged 70, the head of the radical left party LFI (La France Insoumise, or France Unbowed) is one of the most prominent political figures of his time, and this is his third run for office.
Despite the similarities with Jadot’s program, Mélenchon is polling significantly higher, at 17% – and according to LFI supporters, the two candidates are nothing alike.
“Most supporters of the Green Party that I’ve met got into politics because of their relationship with nature,” says Jean-Baptiste Bonnet, who’s been advocating for LFI since Mélenchon’s run in 2017, “whereas the traditional “trade-union” left voters, like LFI or the Communist Party, got into politics to fight for social justice.”
A distinction that Jadot supporters seem to back up. Out of twenty Green Party militants interviewed at the rally, most of them mentioned the environment as a top priority. Only two of them cited social justice as one of the reasons why they are voting for Jadot.
However, Jean-Baptiste adds, this doesn’t make the environment any less of a concern amongst voters. As it turns out, when compared to other candidates — including Jadot — the LFI programme is the closest to France’s commitment at the UN Climate Change Conference, according to a recent France Info study.
An environmentalist not suited for the presidency
Jadot might have rolled up his sleeves and put on a tie, but the effort does not seem to have earned him enough credibility. Although 24% of French voters see Jadot as the most competent candidate to handle environmental issues, only 2% identify him as the most competent in handling unemployment and social inequalities — a critical fault when attempting to decipher current polls.
While the climate crisis is a concern for a significant part of French voters, it is but one of the many problems they expect their future president to tackle. And it might explain why Jadot is struggling to gain leverage over Mélenchon, according to Jean-Baptiste Bonnet: “While ecology is certainly an urgent matter for the left, it is also a way to transform society”, the candidate says. “It must be pursued while always improving people’s quality of life, and while keeping the people’s best interests at heart.”
Macron 2.0?
One thing seemed to unite Mélenchon and Jadot supporters nevertheless – both were evidently fed up with president Emmanuel Macron’s climate policies over the last few years. For most green supporters who attended the march, attempting to draw similarities between the current president and the head of the greens is downright absurd.
Laughing at the comparison, political science student Marc Antoine says “there are basically no common points between Macron and Jadot.”
But for Clément Ramirez, another member of LFI since 2017, Jadot might as well join Macron’s Party (La République en Marche or LREM) at once.
“Jadot is all talk! He keeps promising a new world, a transformation, just like Macron did in 2017. And look where that got us…” the 27-year-old says. “I think what I despise most is his [Emmanuel Macron] ability to make big speeches about how we would overcome capitalism and save the planet, only to do the exact opposite. And his inertia when handling the Citizens’ Convention for the Climate is proof.”
The Citizens Convention for Climate, a citizens' assembly held in 2019, meant to develop propositions to reduce France's carbon emissions in a spirit of social justice. It was initiated by Emmanuel Macron in response to the Yellow Vest protests against the fuel tax. A good idea at first, according to Clément Ramirez, if only it had led to particular governmental action.
Clément is also quick to point out that the Green Party gave Macron’s government several of its ministers, including the current Minister of the Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili.
Over the years, Jadot has tried to present himself as the candidate for a “unifying” Green Party – an attempt to distance himself from the radicals within his party. In 2019, he declared himself "in favour of free enterprise and market economy" – a position that, according to Ramirez, can only be upheld by “liberal greens” – a greenwashed version of the rightwing.
Jadot’s electorate could be working against him.
As crowds grow tired in Place de la République, the sound of drums and batucada slowly starts fading, and answers come out short. When asked to elaborate on the topics which attract them to Jadot’s program, environmental policy aside, a surprising number of supporters draw a blank.
“It’s all about the environment !”, says Alice, while Matthieu admits he hasn’t really read the program. And yet there is arguably much more to it than just environmental policy.
The green label associated with Jadot’s party might as well be the reason why many of his supporters are so eager to cast a vote. It takes a clear stand on where their priorities lie, and attracts youth and climate activists whose main political engagement relies on the environment.
But it would appear that it is also what draws left-wing voters away. Because the climate has grown to become a very apolitical concern, it seduces voters from all over the political spectrum, giving the traditional left the impression that their core values would never be a priority, despite how much the party says so.
A tendency that checks out according to Bonnet: “It might explain why there are environmentalists who don’t consider themselves to be left-wing, but actually right-wing,” he says.
A striking example of the fragmentation of the French left, unable to unite behind a single program – only perhaps when it comes to climate change, such fragmentation has gotten French voters looking anywhere but up.
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