Now, she said, she plans to cast her ballot for the far-right National Rally. “They are the only ones talking about what matters,” she said, “and the center has nothing to say anymore.” Her sentiment, repeated in interviews across France, forms the backbone of a new and alarming research project that suggests the political center is not merely losing elections but losing its reason for being.
The study, conducted over 18 months by the Institut Montaigne and the Jean Jaurès Foundation, paints a stark picture of a political landscape in which the moderate middle has become synonymous with paralysis and self-interest. Drawing on focus groups and in-depth interviews with more than 200 voters, the research found that a majority now view centrist parties as “vapid” and “discredited,” labels that have driven a surge in support for the far right and, to a lesser extent, the far left. The findings come as France prepares for European Parliament elections in June, with polls showing the National Rally of Marine Le Pen leading President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance by a significant margin.
“The clock is ticking for the political center,” said Chantal Delsol, a philosopher and member of the research team, in an interview. “Voters no longer believe that centrist parties offer solutions to their problems. They see them as caretakers of a system that has failed them.” The study’s authors argue that the center’s crisis is not merely a French phenomenon but a warning for liberal democracies across Europe and the United States, where similar dynamics of distrust and polarization are reshaping electoral politics.
Why the Center Is Losing Its Appeal
The research identifies several drivers of the center’s decline, chief among them a perception that mainstream parties have become indistinguishable from one another on key issues such as immigration, economic security, and national identity. Voters in the study described centrist politicians as “technocrats” who prioritize bureaucratic process over bold action, leaving them vulnerable to the more visceral appeals of nationalist and populist movements. One participant in Marseille, a 34-year-old logistics worker, told researchers that he had stopped voting altogether because “the center offers nothing but empty promises and more of the same.”
The erosion of trust has been accelerated by a series of crises, including the Yellow Vest protests and the COVID-19 pandemic, which the study says exposed the inability of centrist governments to address deep-seated grievances. Researchers noted that even voters who once admired President Macron’s reformist energy now describe him as “arrogant” and “out of touch,” with his party’s parliamentary majority increasingly seen as a liability rather than a mandate for change. The far right, by contrast, has successfully framed itself as the only force willing to challenge the status quo, a message that resonates particularly strongly among working-class and rural voters.
The implications of the study are sobering for centrist leaders who have long assumed that voters would eventually return to the middle after flirting with extremism. Instead, the research suggests that the center’s window of opportunity is closing rapidly, as younger generations show little loyalty to traditional parties and older voters abandon them in droves. “The center cannot simply wait for the extremes to fail,” Delsol said. “It must reinvent itself, and it must do so quickly. Otherwise, it will become a historical footnote.”
Whether such a reinvention is possible remains an open question. The study notes that centrist parties across Europe have struggled to articulate a compelling vision that distinguishes them from both the far right and the far left, often resorting to defensive calls for stability that voters find uninspiring. In France, Macron’s recent efforts to tack right on immigration and security have done little to halt the National Rally’s advance, while his overtures to the left have alienated his own base. The result, the researchers conclude, is a political center that is “running out of time” and “running out of ideas.”
As the European elections approach, the study’s authors warn that the far right’s momentum is not merely a protest vote but a structural shift in the electorate’s allegiances. “This is not a temporary phenomenon,” Delsol said. “It is a realignment, and the center is being left behind.” For voters like Sylvie Durand, the choice is already clear. “I used to believe in the center,” she told researchers. “Now I believe in change, whatever it takes.”
