The difference between right and left is still “active and important” in France – Le Monde

He was believed to have disappeared, swallowed up by populist strategies and the overtaking of parties whose political families have all claimed for nearly ten years and which was one of the promises of the election of Emmanuel Macron in 2017. But, at seven month of the presidential deadline of 2022, the ideological divide between the right and the left is taking on color again. In any case, this is one of the main findings of the annual “French Fractures” survey, carried out since 2013 for The world by Ipsos-Sopra Steria, in partnership with the Center d’études de la vie politique française (Cevipof), the Jean-Jaurès Foundation and the Montaigne Institute.

After a year and a half of pandemic due to the coronavirus, the French are again interested in the confrontation of the different visions of society in the face of a global crisis – health, economic and social – unprecedented. And, if the notions of left and right are still perceived as outdated, this opinion is much less shared than in the previous survey: they are 62% to adhere to it against 71% in 2020, a drop of nine points. Conversely, the notions of right and left are still valid for 38% of the people questioned (29% in 2020). This result is the highest for five years.

Moreover, two-thirds of those polled believe that real differences persist between the left and the right. For comparison, they were only 45% to think so in 2019 and 63% in 2020. “The maximum polarization between people and elite which crushed the divide between the right and the left is exceeded. The moment is less populist than before ”, explains Brice Teinturier, Deputy CEO of Ipsos France. According to him, the differentiation between right and left still remains “Active and important” with the French. These results are, finally, the confirmation of what we could observe during the municipal elections of 2020 and especially during the regional elections of 2021 where the “old” parties (The Republicans, LR, and the Socialist Party, PS) showed their presence and their ability to win over local executives.

Perception of immigration

Without real surprise, the rejection of the right-left cleavage is the most important among the sympathizers of the National Rally, (RN, ex-National Front): they are 68% (against 62% in 2020) to think so, in accordance with the strategic focus of Marine Le Pen to define itself as not being “Neither right nor left”. Likewise, 65% of green voters believe that the notions of right and left are outdated. A feeling in accordance with the message of Europe Ecology-The Greens (EELV). The sunflower party intends, in fact, to place political ecology as “New paradigm” and makes the defense of the environment the new ideological frontier between defenders and gravediggers of the planet.

You have 58.04% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.