From POLITICO · · 2m
Mélenchon's young army takes Facebook to win over parents
The French left-wing candidate's campaign is mobilising TikTok-native supporters to debate older voters on Facebook, where the far right dominates.
In brief
The French left-wing candidate's campaign is mobilising TikTok-native supporters to debate older voters on Facebook, where the far right dominates. Mélenchon's campaign is recruiting young supporters to argue with their parents on Facebook to win over older voters he needs to beat Marine Le Pen in a runoff. Originally…
The age gap in Mélenchon's support
More than 40% of voters younger than 35 plan to vote for Mélenchon, according to a recent Cluster17 poll commissioned by POLITICO. That figure drops to 14% or less across the age brackets over 50.
Where each generation scrolls
Mélenchon, 75, dominates TikTok with about twice the following of any other presidential candidate. But older voters favour Facebook, where Marine Le Pen's National Rally reigns with over 2 million reactions since June.
The campaign's Facebook strategy
Antoine Léaument, who handles Mélenchon's communication operations, said Facebook is one of the places where the digital battle could be decisive. The campaign is rallying activists to share content en masse via WhatsApp.
“Facebook is one of the places where the digital battle could be decisive.”
Mobilising the WhatsApp channel
Léaument has been rallying activists from France Unbowed to share content via an open WhatsApp channel with over 170,000 members, posting calls to action and campaign clips to share on their social media accounts.
The inverse socialisation theory
Mathilde Panot, France Unbowed's top lawmaker in parliament, invoked the work of French political scientist Vincent Tiberj, who has studied how children challenge and sometimes change their parents' views and politics.
Panot's call to grassroots action
Panot said the children need to convince their parents through grassroots work, going out to convince people one by one, starting with their inner circle: parents, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts.
“The children need to convince their parents.”
The runoff stakes
Polls show Mélenchon is on track for a second-place finish in the first round, earning a runoff against Le Pen, who holds a double-digit lead for first place.
The undecided older voters
Many older voters remain undecided about what they would do in a runoff against Le Pen.
What it means
Mélenchon's campaign is recruiting young supporters to argue with their parents on Facebook to win over older voters he needs to beat Marine Le Pen in a runoff.
