The French president's approval rating has dropped by ten percentage points | Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP via Getty Images Emmanuel Macron’s popularity plummets amid budget outcry The French president plans tough reforms on several fronts that are likely to dent his popularity further.

PARIS — Emmanuel Macron, who compared himself to the Roman god Jupiter, is coming down to earth, fast.

In the third month of his presidency, the French President's approval score (the difference between positive and negative ratings) dropped by ten percentage points to 54 percent between May and July amid rising anxiety over budget cuts, a poll by Ifop for the JDD weekly showed Sunday.

Macron, a centrist first-time candidate who swept to power at age 39, still has similar or higher popularity than most of his predecessors at the same point in their terms. Former President François Hollande enjoyed an approval rating of 56 percent in July 2012, François Mitterrand was down to 48 percent, and Nicolas Sarkozy was still flying high at 66 percent.

In each case, the rating in July had little bearing on long-term averages.

Even so, Macron's shrinking score is a tough reality check for a president whose first weeks in power were uncommonly blessed. It comes after he held a number of high-flying meetings with world leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump, and now turns to deal with a stuttering domestic economy and unpopular plans to shrink the country's deficit over the next year.

Budget cuts are planned for multiple sectors, including a short-term one in the military, which prompted top officer Pierre de Villiers to resign this week in a public fracas that tested Macron's authority.

The poll showed voter groups concerned by cuts turning against the president. His approval score dropped by 18 percentage points among civil servants, by 11 points among over-65s worried about planned changes to the pension system, and by 25 points among supporters of the centrist MoDem party, whose leaders left the government last month amid a scandal at the European Parliament.

Things are only set to get tougher. In September, outrage over public sector budget cuts will combine with fury over plans to overhaul labor rules and trigger street protests across the country. The anti-Macron front will have a fiery, uncompromising leader in MP Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who is already planning demonstrations for after the summer lull.

Aides to the president say he knows there is no avoiding a confrontation over reform plans, and that he plans to move as quickly as possible to avoid getting bogged down in months of protests.

He may yet find that trying to do many things at once — shrinking the budget, reforming labor rules and reforming housing taxation — is a recipe for unpopularity. If today's grumbles turn into a nonstop chorus of outrage, even "Jupiter" — as the French satirical press calls Macron — will have to re-examine his approach.