Valls vs Hollande?

In my previous post I mentioned that French president Francois Hollande was suffering horrible poll numbers, his latest at 24% approval ratings. Things have looked really bleak for him recently. This is how we come to his Minister of the Interior, Manuel Valls who has been recently anointed most popular politician in France.
He has a 56% approval rating which is more than double that of the president, the second French politician Alain Juppe is at 50% proving the popularity of the minister, this is according to a polls by Ispos-Le Point. His popularity increase is due to his position favoring the expulsion of the Roma population in France which increased his ratings in right wing circles (UMP, FN).

Of course with his popularity increasing Valls has grown bolder and bolder as rumors of his feud with Hollande and another french minister, Cecile Duflot continue to circulate. He has been in the press for his numerous visits around the country which often overlap with those of the president and tend to outshine them. Valls' open feuding with his president and his colleague in the government is due to the fact that he knows he can't be dismissed due to his popularity. This is proving the rumors that he is planning to run for president in 2017. Things are not going to get better in France for a long time and if he can keep straddling that line of being of the left while beloved by the right, he could have a very convincing case for the presidency in 2017. Hollande, I am sure would love to get rid of Valls but of course, that would be seen in the press as the move of getting rid of a potential rival and the ridicule would never end. So he is left to watch his new nemesis use the power of his ministerial office to increase his presence on the political scene.

All and all it is looking like the P.S chose the wrong person to represent them in the election of 2012. Francois Hollande has proved to be weak as evidenced by him fueding openly with his Minister of Industrial Renewal, Arnaud Montebourg, his feud with Valls and the ongoing feud between Valls and Duflot. Hollande's personality is meek and he seems to be incapable of controlling his increasingly out of control government. Martine Aubry would have made a much stronger and better president, she would have won since the people were tired of decades of UMP powers. But France never seems to like my picks. I personally will never forgive them from ignoring one of my all time French politicians, Madame Segolen Royale.

(In funnier news, Valls also won a poll for politician with whom most women would like to have an affair with. Sex appeal always wins, Barack Obama would most likely agree with that.)