SURVEY - France's Macron’s approval rating hits record low

French President Emmanuel Macron's approval rating has fallen to its lowest point since his election in 2017, according to the results of a poll by the sociological service Verian for Le Figaro Magazine. The poll reveals that 15% of French respondents approve of the job Macron is doing in the capacity of the head of state. Eighty percent of the polled respondents do not trust him, and another 5% of those surveyed found it difficult to answer.

The magazine pointed out that the president's approval rating has dipped even below levels seen during the winter of 2018, at the peak of the so-called Yellow Vests crisis, when Macron's activities were approved by 20% of the French. As for the level of confidence in French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, it has dropped to 14%, while 82% opposed his policies. Another 4% declined to express their opinion on this issue.

The survey was conducted via an online questionnaire involving 1,000 people over the age of 18.

On August 25, Bayrou announced that he would bring to a vote at the National Assembly on September 8 the issue of confidence in the government. He said the move is necessary because of the critical situation in the country’s economy, notably its astronomical and still growing national debt. According to him, "France's public debt is increasing by 12 million euros every hour" and has already reached 3.4 trillion euros. Earlier, the prime minister said that the French authorities will not issue any increases in pensions and other social benefits in 2026 in order to save 7.1 billion euros and curtail the growth of the national debt.

Over half of Greenlanders support joining the US, survey shows

More than half of #Greenland’s residents are for joining the US, according to a poll conducted on January 6-11 by the Patriot Polling NGO.
The majority of respondents (57.3%) approved the idea of joining the US, while 37.4% spoke out against it. Out of those surveyed, 5.3% remained undecided. "During the time that this poll was conducted, Donald Trump Jr. made a visit to Greenland," pollsters noted, specifying that the survey was taken among 416 Greenlanders.

Poll: Trump edges Harris in swing state early voting
A new Harvard CAPS/Harris #poll shows President #Trump with a narrow lead over VP #Harris among early voters in battleground states.

According to the survey, 48% of early voters in critical swing states are backing Trump, while 47% are choosing Harris. Around 5% picked a third choice or said they hadn't voted yet, Newsmax reported.

Poll co-director Mark Penn said Trump's "swing state strategy is paying off," noting that the GOP candidate holds a 2-point lead overall in these regions, with 48% support to Harris' 46%. Despite the edge in battlegrounds, the poll found Harris performing well nationally among early voters, leading Trump by 8 points — 51% to 43%. According to the survey, 45% of voters plan to vote early, while 50% say they will wait until Election Day.

Recent polling shows the two candidate neck-and-neck in all seven swing states. Nationally, an aggregate of polling compiled by The Hill/Decision Desk HQ shows Harris with a slim lead over Trump, at 50% to 47%. Both candidates are focusing heavily on the battleground states, which will likely decide the outcome of the Nov. 5 vote.

The Harvard/Harris poll, conducted Oct. 11-13, surveyed 3,145 registered voters — including 2,596 likely voters and 898 battleground state voters. The margin of error for the total sample was ± 1.8 percentage points.

In France, 82% of citizens believe the country is heading in the wrong direction, a new historic low, according to an Ipsos survey.
Great Britain experienced the biggest fall in optimism this month, dropping 14 percentage points.

The majority of U.S. adults will turn off cookies to manage privacy online

Key stat: 67% of US adults turn off cookies or website tracking to protect their privacy, putting it second only to changing social media privacy settings, according to a May 2023 Pew Research Center survey.

Beyond the chart:

This data is particularly relevant as cookies are being phased out. The start of 2024 marked the deprecation of third-party cookies for 1% of Google Chrome users, with cookies scheduled to go away completely by the end of the year.

As third-party cookies fade, advertisers need to find ways to reach users without making them feel violated online, like incentivizing users to share first-party data.