The 2024 French European Election as a “Second-Order” Election? The Rise of the Far Right, Protest Voting Against the Executive, and the Role of Eurosceptic Attitudes

Drawing on data from the French Electoral Survey (ENEF) conducted by CEVIPOF, this article assesses the relevance of the “second-order election” model for analyzing the June 2024 European elections in France. The findings call for a qualification of the model’s applicability given the attitudinal heterogeneity observed across different electorates. Our results further confirm that the Rassemblement National (RN) was able to capitalize both on national-level opposition to Emmanuel Macron and on the persistence of Eurosceptic attitudes among certain segments of the French electorate. Additional analyses show more specifically how the RN successfully mobilized discontent with the executive among relatively pro-European voters, while at the same time maintaining its traditional strong support base among those most opposed to the European Union.