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‘Left-wing country that votes for the right’ – why French voters are moving right

The French electorate is moving further to the right, according to a new poll of 10,000 voters, although trust in president Emmanuel Macron has increased slightly over the last year.

Published: 26 January 2022 10:41 CET
'Left-wing country that votes for the right' - why French voters are moving right
French voters will go to the polls in April. Photo: Sameer Al Doumy/AFP

From representative sample of more than 10,000 people inscribed on the French electoral list polled between December 23rd 2021 to January 10th 2022, 32 percent identified as right-wing – an increase of 8 percent since 2016, according to a study by OpinonWay published earlier this week. 

Since the election of French President Emmanuel Macron in 2017, the percentage of people identifying as belonging to the far right has crept up from 7 percent to 11 percent. 

The graph from a recent study on political attitudes in France shows that more and more people identify as being on the right. Centrist and left wing political identification has remained largely stable. Droite means right-wing and gauche means left-wing.  Source: OpinionWay/CEVIPOF
 
The poll found that 39 percent of French people were satisfied with their lives (a four percent increase from last year) while 20 percent were dissatisfied (a one percent decrease).

35 percent of those surveyed said they had confidence in the government – the same proportion as last year – while 38 percent said that they trusted the President – a 2 percent increase on last year. 

The vast majority of those polled, 79 percent, agreed with the statement that “politicians talk too much but don’t act enough” – a five percent increase on last year.

Overwhelming majorities believe that the economy benefits bosses to the detriment of workers, that the government should take from the rich and give to the poor, that there are too many immigrants in France and that unemployed people can find a job if they look for one. 61 percent of those polled said that Islam represented a threat to the country. A majority said that more had to be done to advance the place of women in society. 

This confusing mix of results was summarised neatly by sociologist, Roger Sue, writing in Le Monde: “France is a left wing country that votes for the right.” 

“The electorate has become more volatile,” he continued. “The top down nature of out institutions has failed to produce republican integration.”

More than a quarter of those polled said it would be a good idea if the army governed France, 39 percent were in favour of an unelected strongman and 52 percent were in favour of government led by experts rather than elected officials. 

Just under half of voters believe the government has managed the Covid pandemic well. 

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POLITICS

France’s Uyghurs say Xi visit a ‘slap’ from Macron

Uyghurs in France on Friday said President Emmanuel Macron welcoming his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping next week was tantamount to "slapping" them.

Published: 4 May 2024 15:23 CEST
France's Uyghurs say Xi visit a 'slap' from Macron

Xi is due to make a state visit to France on Monday and Tuesday.

Dilnur Reyhan, the founder of the European Uyghur Institute and a French national, said she and others were “angry” the Chinese leader was visiting.

“For the Uyghur people — and in particular for French Uyghurs — it’s a slap from our president, Emmanuel Macron,” she said, describing the Chinese leader as “the executioner of the Uyghur people”.

Beijing stands accused of incarcerating more than one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in a network of detention facilities across the Xinjiang region.

Campaigners and Uyghurs overseas have said an array of abuses take place inside the facilities, including torture, forced labour, forced sterilisation and political indoctrination.

A UN report last year detailed “credible” evidence of torture, forced medical treatment and sexual or gender-based violence — as well as forced labour — in the region.

But it stopped short of labelling Beijing’s actions a “genocide”, as the United States and some other Western lawmakers have done.

Beijing consistently denies abuses and claims the allegations are part of a deliberate smear campaign to contain its development.

It says it is running vocational training centres in Xinjiang which have helped to combat extremism and enhance development.

Standing beside Reyhan at a press conference in Paris, Gulbahar Haitiwaji, who presented herself as having spent three years in a detention camp, said she was “disappointed”.

“I am asking the president to bring up the issue of the camps with China and to firmly demand they be shut down,” she said.

Human Rights Watch on Friday urged Macron during the visit to “lay out consequences for the Chinese government’s crimes against humanity and deepening repression”.

“Respect for human rights has severely deteriorated under Xi Jinping’s rule,” it said.

“His government has committed crimes against humanity… against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang, adopted draconian legislation that has erased Hong Kong’s freedoms, and intensified repression of government critics across the country.”

“President Macron should make it clear to Xi Jinping that Beijing’s crimes against humanity come with consequences for China’s relations with France,” said Maya Wang, acting China director at Human Rights Watch

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