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The first round of France's presidential elections happened on Sunday, and more than

a quarter of voters didn't vote. That's a lot better than we do here in the US, but it's

the lowest French turnout in decades. The next and final election round, I had to

had match up between incumbent Emmanuel Macron and challenger Marine Le Pen, is coming

up on April 24th. And polls suggest that a lot of people are just going to stay home

again. I'm not sure if that means that they don't care, or that they're simply

disgusted by the two options that they have. Slate staff writer Henry Grabar is in Paris,

covering the election. He says the remaining two presidential candidates are leaving

a lot of voters cold. President Macron seems like he's not even trying all that hard

to win hearts and minds. He didn't begin his reelection campaign until just a month ago,

and he's held exactly one rally. Henry went to it.

It was weird. It was really weird. It was in a massive arena in the suburbs of Paris.

And in fact, the vibe was really that of a concert, indoor fireworks, right? Like sparklers

shooting up sparks. It was a DJ with really loud music.

There was a brightly lit hexagonical stage at the center. I was quite far away. To me,

Macron looked like a little speck marching around there. But this was part of their strategy

...