PARIS (Sputnik) - French President Emmanuel Macron’s approval rating currently stands at 28 percent, improving by five points in a month and marking the first improvement in ratings since the start of the nationwide yellow vest protests in November, an Ifop-Fiducial poll showed.

"For the first time since the beginning of the crisis around yellow vests, the approval rating of the president of the republic has improved: in January, it has increased by five points, reaching the November level of 28 percent," the pollster said on Tuesday.

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However, 72 percent of respondents still do not approve of Macron’s policies, with 44 categorically opposing them and 28 percent saying that they were unlikely to support them.

At the same time, 6 percent fully backed the French leader, but 22 percent said they were unlikely to throw their support behind him.

The rating of French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe also increased — by 7 points — and totaled 33 percent.

The French right-wing National Rally had the highest rating among opposition parties — 35 percent. It was followed by the Unsubmissive France party with 30 percent, The Republicans with 23 percent and the Socialist Party with 10 percent.

The poll, conducted on January 3-4 among 1,014 respondents aged 18 or older, comes amid the so-called yellow vest protests — named after the obligatory attribute of French cars — which started in mid-November. While the French government has scrapped its planned hike in diesel taxes, which is what initially sparked the protests, the yellow vests have evolved into a broader movement against government policies and rising living costs. The rallies have been marked by violent clashes between protesters and the police.