Few politicians have sunk so low, or climbed so swiftly in the polls, as French President François Hollande. Since the Paris attacks nearly a month ago, the country's most unpopular leader in modern times has seen his ratings soar - more than doubling to 40 percent in one survey, his highest level in two years, reports Deutsche Welle.
From a figure of ridicule, considered unable to fix an ailing France, Hollande has emerged as a statesman to be reckoned with, a man who has drawn a nation in mourning together and offered a blueprint to move forward.
"It's unique, we've never had this in France," says sociologist Michel Wieviorka. "And he's not the only one who is going up, up, up. Prime Minister Manuel Valls is going even higher."
Few analysts believe these highs will last. "And all recall that in the past, when a politician got a lot of support, he went down very quickly, very low," Wieviorka added.
Even so, Hollande is expected to seize the moment, using a news conference Thursday - his fifth major press event since being elected in 2012 - to showcase his achievements and outline the year's priorities.
"I don't expect he'll have any major new announcements to make," says political analyst Étienne Schweisguth, of the Institute of Political Studies in Paris, or Sciences Po. "He may talk about what the government has done to fight terrorism, and continue to nurture the idea that it has reacted well during the crisis."
Still, the occasion will offer a dramatic contrast from a similar news conference just over a year ago. It was a humiliated and embattled Hollande who faced reporters at the Elysée presidential palace in January 2014. Then, he was dogged by a series of bleak economic indicators and reports of an alleged affair with French actress Julie Gayet. Soon after, he split with his longtime partner Valérie Trierweiler, who went on to write a bitter tell-all, accusing the Socialist leader of mocking the poor as the "toothless ones."
Hollande is better remembered these days for marching arm-in-arm with world leaders during last month's massive free speech demonstration in Paris, and for announcing a series of immediate and longer-term policies to counter the threat of home-grown jihadism.