France's Macron faces angry voters as he fights for 2nd term

MULHOUSE, France (AP) — Facing a tougher-than expected fight for reelection, French President Emmanuel Macron has hit the campaign trail at last — and it isn't always proving welcoming.

But he's not shying away from angry voters, instead engaging in lively, sometimes confrontational debates. Since he and far-right nationalist rival Marine Le Pen qualified Sunday for France's April 24 presidential runoff, Macron has seemed eager to go in the field to explain his policies and try to convince people to hand him a second term.

On Tuesday, he was asked hard questions during a visit to the eastern city of Mulhouse.

“Why didn’t you help the poorest?"

“Why do hospitals suffer from shortages of beds and shortages of health workers?”

"How can you propose to push back retirement age from 62 to 65 when so many people are jobless?”

The 44-year-old leader appeared determined to explain his policies at length — but sometimes grew impatient when people kept contradicting him.

Before Sunday's first round presidential vote which had 12 candidates, Macron skipped most campaign activities, focusing his time at the Elysee Presidential Palace on diplomatic efforts to end Russia's war in Ukraine. Domestic critics decried the perceived lack of debate in France's presidential campaign.

Now the role of candidate has taken over. Macron is considered the favorite by the polls, but Le Pen appears to have significantly narrowed the gap from 2017, when he trounced her in the same presidential runoff.

On Monday, Macron went to an economically depressed region in northern France that is considered Le Pen’s stronghold. The next day, he visited the eastern cities of Mulhouse and Strasbourg, where far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who came in third Sunday, got a majority of the first-round vote.

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