The French are strict with the government's energy policy.
According to an OpinionWay-Square poll for
Les Échos
and Radio Classique*, published on Wednesday, seven out of ten respondents (70%) consider it unclear.
A worrying signal, while this theme remains the sinews of war, in this period of soaring prices.
A minority of French people even believe that the executive is doing everything possible to ensure that France produces carbon-free electricity (42%), to ensure the country's energy independence (42%) or to reduce France's dependence on energy. fossils (42%).
Proof that this skepticism seems to be shared among the population, only a narrow majority of Emmanuel Macron's voters in the first round of the last presidential election (55%) consider that the government's energy policy is clear.
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On the energy mix, the French are more likely to support the development of renewable energies (59%) rather than nuclear (39%).
However, when asked what they consider to be the priority energy production projects, they first cite the establishment of new solar panel farms (40%) and… the construction of new nuclear power plants (40%).
"
Wind projects inspire less support
", observes the study: 29% consider the establishment of offshore wind farms a priority and 21% for onshore wind farms.
Acclaimed self-production
At the local level, the French also prefer the installation of renewable installations rather than nuclear ones.
"
If an electricity production plant were to be installed near their municipality, 63% of those questioned would prefer it to be a wind farm, compared to 35% for a nuclear power plant
", notes the study. .
In addition, the survey notes that the French seem ready to make efforts to achieve the energy transition.
Nearly seven in ten (69%) believe that citizens should be more encouraged to produce their own energy, known as self-production.
On the other hand, “
the budgetary policy to be adopted to support the energy transition is more divisive
”, underlines the study.
Indeed, 51% of respondents believe that the energy transition justifies significant public spending, even if it means increasing deficits, when 48% oppose this view.
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*OpinionWay-Square survey for Les Échos and Radio Classique, carried out among a sample of 1003 people representative of the French population aged 18 and over, established according to the quota method. The sample was interviewed by self-administered online questionnaire on November 16 and 17, 2022.