If France had American-style primaries, Le Pen would've won.

[kpete]

.............

Here, though, it’s worth recalling that political institutions matter. France has a two-phase presidential election — a broad multi-candidate first round, followed by a runoff between the two top finishers. America has a different kind of two-phase system — first a pair of multi-candidate primaries and then a general election.

If you ran the French results through the American system, Le Pen would have won the primary on the right and Mélenchon would have won the primary on the left, with Macron voters split between the two parties. And all signs are that Le Pen would have won the general. The shame of Democrats’ current predicament is that they rejected an electorally optimal approach for the sake of their policy agenda, but now seem stalled out on actually doing any of the main elements of that agenda.

Way More:
https://www.slowboring.com/p/some-boring-takes-on-the-french-election?s=w

[brooklynite]

1. Completely inaccurate....

The blog conflates Primaries and Runoffs. The "Primary Process" in France was BEFORE the first round vote, when the individual Parties selected their candidates. THEN they had a General Election vote. THEN they had a runoff. Many States in the US do the same (see: Georgia - Senate - 2020)

The ONLY way the French Election system would equal the American Election system is if voters gave serious support to the Libertarians, Greens, WFPs, Socialists etc. and heavily divided the vote.

[Amishman]

2. The French political landscape is nothing like ours. Apples and Walruses

Le Pen is a Russian stooge and hardcore nationalist, but supports windfall taxes on corporations, opposes reductions to public support and retirement plans, and opposes privatization of public sector services.

Their parties and candidates don't align to our parties, and the fact that they are not locked into a two party framework also spoils any comparison.

[David__77]

3. Melenchon would have won over Le Pen.

People can be dogmatic in their understanding of left-right spectrums. Melenchon is no more radical than was Mitterrand or De Gaulle.

[FakeNoose]

4. Our system is based on the presumption of two parties of equal legitimacy

If one of those parties commits harikari, the entire system is unable to function.

Maybe France has a point: the number of political parties should be immaterial. Electing the best candidate for the job should be all that matters.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. That assumes that the American system is "a pair of primaries"

but that is just how it usually turns out. It is possible for other parties to hold primaries too. Macron's party holds 280 out of 577 seats in the National Assembly. It's inconceivable that a strong party like that would say "well, we better split in 2, hold primaries with the very weak Socialist and Republican parties, plus the candidates further out, and see what happens".