More than 80 percent of French people believe their country is on the brink of collapse

According to a survey by the Ipsos center, which was quoted on Friday by the daily “Le Monde”, more than 80 percent of the French believe that their country is on the verge of collapse. The attitude of respondents is reflected in pollswhich indicate before Sunday elections in Francethat the far right will win.

The influential daily “Le Monde” also presented other data from the Ipsos survey, which shows that a large part of society does not find its place in the realities of contemporary France and that many respondents declare that they “do not feel at home” in the country. Since 2013, the percentage of respondents who answered in this way has remained at 60%. In October 2023, as many as 64% of respondents signed the statement that they “do not feel at home in their homeland”.

“Le Monde” put forward the thesis that this is the result of fears about the changes taking place in France. Many people are afraid of losing everything they knew and appreciated in their country. Such concerns – as mood surveys show – definitely contribute to increasing support for the far-right National Rally (RN).

Historian and researcher Nicolas Lebourg, when asked about the reason for the fear and negative attitude of the French towards their surroundings, replied that a large part of society lacks a sense of belonging to some larger whole. – People are no longer united into communities by parties or trade unions, Lebourg explained.

According to the historian, the offer of the RN nationalists is a reaction to these fears and offers to “separate themselves from the realities of the world”, giving a sense of security to those French who are too worried about modernity.

The head of the opinion department of the IFOP pollster, Jerome Fourquet, based on the collected data, put forward the thesis that the most important problems for far-right voters are immigration and security as well as purchasing power and energy prices and fuel. Fourquet said that this is why the slogan of National Rally politicians “we are at home” gives voters hope that the National Council will deal with the problems that are most important to them.

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Support for the National Rally is not only a testament to nostalgia for a past that guaranteed stability, but also to the belief that voting for this far-right party is a guarantee that its voters will find a place for themselves in French society, Fourquet said.

“Le Monde” assessed that so far, voters voting for the far right have expressed their reluctance towards the French political class. Now, even if it is still an expression of frustration, which plays an important role in the decision-making process of RN voters, it is not the only reason for choosing this party. Le Pen's supporters now believe they are voting for a specific vision of the world that the National Rally represents.

Ipsos pollster Brice Teinturier explained that the famous phrase “Molotov cocktail vote”, used by Serge July, co-founder of the daily Liberation, in April 2002 in reference to the vote for the National Front, as the National Rally was formerly known, is no longer valid.