The assassination of Samuel Paty on October 16 near his college in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines) after showing caricatures of Muhammad to his students, revived concerns about freedom of expression and the place of religions, in particular at school.
According to an Ifop poll for Cnews and Sud Radio published Thursday, October 22, 78% of French people support teachers who show cartoons mocking religions in class.
Read also: Secularism at school: why teachers are not always supported by their hierarchy
This position is shared at an equivalent level by respondents who say they are politically close to the National Rally (89%), the Socialist Party (88%), La République en Marche (87%) or the Republicans (82%).
Sympathizers of rebellious France are in retreat (69%).
On the issue of secularism, 87% of those polled believe that it is “
in danger
” in France and 79% agree with the idea that “
Islamism has declared war on France and the Republic
”.
The more one moves to the right of the political spectrum, the more these two assertions find echo.
Marine Le Pen (44%) is the political figure in which respondents have the most “
confidence
” to fight against Islamism, ahead of the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin (37%), tied with Nicolas Sarkozy, Emmanuel Macron and Jean Castex.
The personalities of the left or environmentalists bring up the rear of the ranking with François Hollande (23%), Anne Hidalgo (22%), Jean-Luc Mélenchon (18%) and Yannick Jadot (16%).
More than three in four French people (76%) trust the police to fight terrorism, the lowest level ever measured by Ifop, whose barometer has existed since the attacks of January 2015.
The terrorist threat is "
high
" for 89% of respondents, a jump of 12 points compared to the beginning of September, before the attacks in front of the former premises of Charlie Hebdo and Conflans-Sainte-Honorine.
The survey by the Ifop Fiducial institute was carried out with a sample of 1,002 people.