French politics are far more consistently class-based than American politics. Whereas in the U.S. the Republican and Democratic parties each have powerful elite factions as well as many working-class supporters, Macron received the bulk of his support from the wealthiest voters, leaving the populists to prevail among the poorest. (Le Pen and Mélenchon won a combined 57 percent of those with the lowest incomes.)

This would be less troubling if we thought the French economy was likely to take off in the coming years, creating jobs and raising wages for those struggling to get by. But there is no sign of such a turnaround, and none of Macron’s modest proposals are likely to lead to significant improvements. French unemployment has been stuck above 10 percent for most of the past four years, and for young people it’s far worse — with nearly 25 percent looking for and failing to find work. Unless this changes dramatically, the ranks of the disaffected are only going to grow.

It would be one thing if these angry and increasingly desperate voters looked to the center-left for answers and help, but they emphatically do not. In an astonishing collapse that parallels similar trends in the Netherlands, Greece, and elsewhere, the center-left Socialist Party in France is in a state of electoral free fall, with the sitting Socialist president (François Hollande) weighed down by an approval rating in the mid-single digits and the party’s nominee to replace him (Benoît Hamon) finishing fifth in Sunday’s vote, with an anemic 6.4 percent.