This article investigates why François Hollande, the new French President, has become so quickly unpopular after his electoral victory in May 2012. We ask whether this has to do with a lack of effective policy change compared with the 10 preceding years of conservative government and the context of economic crisis. We assess the impact of political alternation and the crisis on policy change and then look at the consequences for popularity ratings. The main results show that Hollande does not seem to be greatly different from previous presidents as the great recession has apparently not dramatically changed the dynamics of French politics. The crucial changes seem to occur before, in the 1990s.