French distrust of politics remains very high compared to other European countries.
This is the result of the annual Cevipof barometer* published this Tuesday, which also shows a sharp decline in confidence in Germany.
According to the study carried out by the OpinionWay polling institute for the Center for the Study of French Political Life (attached to Sciences-po), 68% of French people believe that “democracy does not work well”, an increase of 4 points in one year.
The increase is also significant in Italy (+5 points to 63%) and especially in Germany (+8 points to 47%).
Only 18% (+1) of French people believe that their opinion is “taken into account” by political leaders.
There are more (33%) in Germany, but with a drop of 12 points over one year.
When they think about politics, 37% of French people first feel “distrust”, a stable figure, compared to 30% in Italy (+1) and 30% also in Germany (+4).
The desire for strong or military power is gaining ground
Elected officials are judged “rather honest” by 30% (+1) of French people compared to 45% of Germans (-8) and 26% of Italians (-3).
If 60% (+1) of French people say they are dissatisfied with the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, 68% of Germans are dissatisfied with their Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a figure up by… 23 points.
In Italy, the unpopularity of head of government Giorgia Meloni also increased by 9 points, but only reached 44%.
However, the respondents are not free from contradictions.
Thus 83% (+ 1) of French people say they are in favor of a democratic political system, while 34% (+ 5) would like to have at the head of the country "a strong man who does not have to worry about Parliament or elections » and 23% (+4) would like “the army to rule the country”.
According to the survey, 27% of French people are on the right, 22% on the left, 15% in the center, 9% on the extreme right and 4% on the extreme left, the remaining 23% not positioning themselves on the political spectrum.
* Survey carried out in January, using the quota method, with a representative sample of 3,514 people in France, 1,632 in Germany and 1,706 in Italy.