What's happening to Macron in France is a lesson for all Europe elites - analysis by Millie Cooke
When Macron decided to call a snap election in the wake of the EU wide poll, the French President took a high-risk gamble in the hope it would allow him to regain control of an increasingly apathetic electorate.
The decision came after exit polls gave Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National more than double the vote share of the President's centrist alliance.
He is gambling on the idea that voters will demonstrate that Marine Le Pen's party is unable to win at a national level.
But it is increasingly looking like a bad call...
Macron is gambling on the idea that voters will demonstrate that Marine Le Pen's National Rally is unable to win at a national level.
PA
In the wake of the election being called, ex-French president Nicholas Sarkozy warned: "Giving the floor to the French people to justify the dissolution is a curious argument since this is precisely what more than 25million French people have just done at the polls."
He added: "The risk is great they confirm their anger rather than reverse it."
And one look at this weeks polling suggests Macron's predecessor may well be right.
Opinion polls conducted in the wake of the election being called suggest Macron's centrist alliance could face an even greater rejection than Rishi Sunak is forecast to endure in next month's general election.
A poll published over the weekend forecast Le Pen's party would lead in the first round with 33 per cent of the vote, ahead of the Popular Front, an alliance of left-wing parties, with 25 per cent.
Meanwhile, Macron's centrist group was on just 20 per cent backing.
Other polls published last week were even more concerning, putting his support on just 18 per cent.
Marine Le Pen welcomed Macron's decision to call the election, warning that the results of the EU elections should send a message to Brussels and "put an end to this painful epoch of globalism".
If Le Pen wins the election, she has said she would not seek Macron's resignation. But she has got her eye on the 2027 Presidential election.
If Sarkozy's prediction comes true, that possibility may not be totally out of the question.