Macron Younger than His Average Voter as French Youth Flocks to Le Pen

Whilst 39-year-old Emmanuel Macron is the youngest president in French history, he is also younger than his average voter as an increasing number of young people voted for his anti-mass migration rival Marine Le Pen.

Macron is the only leader in the Western world – and in the history of the fifth French republic – to be younger than his average constituent, whose average age is 41, French broadcaster BMFTV reports.

As a result of his youth, many have called into question Mr. Macron’s level of experience, especially given the fact he has never been elected to public office previously.

The only leaders in the world younger than Mr. Macron are predominantly dictators in countries like North Korea where Kim Jong-Un is 34, as well as in Qatar and Bhutan. However, the prime minister of Estonia, a democratic country with a population of 1.3 million, is 38 years old.

Whilst many presumed that Macron’s youth would attract mainly young supporters, the most fervent voters for the new French president were those aged 70 and above with 78 per cent of elderly French men and women voting for him and supporting his platform.

Macron’s rival Marine Le Pen courted a much younger voting demographic. Ms. Le Pen did extremely well with men and women aged 25 to 34 where she scored 40 per cent of the vote, and 35 to 49 where she received 43 per cent, according to an Ipsos poll.

France: Majority for #Macron (EM-*) in all age groups and genders (Ipsos exit poll). #Presidentielle2017 #LePen pic.twitter.com/12dTSWicxF

— Europe Elects (@EuropeElects) May 7, 2017

A similar election night study by OpinionWay found support for Le Pen among the youngest voters was even more pronounced, with 44 per cent of voters under 24 casting their ballot for the Front National candidate. Just 20 per cent of the oldest voters in society voted for Le Pen, according to the statistics.

#presidentielle2017 Parmi les électeurs ayant exprimé un vote 83% des cadres ont voté Macron 63% des ouvriers LePen pic.twitter.com/RXVk4WTUVv

— Bruno Jeanbart (@bjeanbart) May 7, 2017

The statistics show the average Le Pen voter is likely to be much younger than the average Macron voter despite Macron winning the most votes in all age categories. The abstention rate for younger people was also much higher than that of older voters, revealing that fewer young people believed in either the threat of Le Pen or the globalist programme of Macron.

According to polling done before Sunday evening’s vote, the true support for Macron amongst French voters could be far lower than the 65 per cent he received on the night.

The poll estimated that less than half of French men and women actually supported Macron’s programme and only around 20 per cent were activists for the new president.

In the immediate aftermath of the result, far left protesters took to the streets to protest the victory of Macron, leading to the arrest of 141 individuals.

The new French president will also have to contend with what may come out of the hack his campaign suffered. On Friday evening, nine gigabytes of information was leaked online, including confidential emails.

Despite her loss, Le Pen said she will continue to fight against Macron in next month’s legislative elections. Front National officials have also considered rebranding which could include a new name for the party.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson@breitbart.com