“Control spending to invest in the future. » The title of the finance bill for 2024 – soon to be debated in the National Assembly – could not better illustrate one of the many paradoxes that fuels public opinion. If the French are little concerned (or even little interested) in the subject of public debt, they still remain politically divided on budgetary allocations. This is one of the lessons from the eleventh wave of the annual “French Fractures” survey, carried out by Ipsos-Sopra Steria for The worldthe Jean-Jaurès Foundation, the Sciences Po Political Research Center (Cevipof) and the Montaigne Institute.
Excluded from the podium of the main concerns of the French, the level of debt and deficits only affects barely 8% of respondents, far behind the difficulties of purchasing power or even environmental protection. Nearly one in three French people (32%) even believe that reducing debt and public deficits is not a priority. The resulting trade-offs, however, concern the entire population, such as pension reform or the recent unemployment insurance reform. The French thus seem concerned about the impact of budgetary constraints on the country’s social model.
As proof: there are fewer of them than before who believe that “the unemployed could find work if they really wanted to”. 65% of them think so in 2023 (i.e. 2 points less than in 2022), a first decline in six years. Likewise, the broader feeling that“there are too many assistantships in France” reached a historically low level: 56% of French people share this opinion, compared to 63% in 2022. Conversely, nearly 44% of respondents now believe that there is not enough solidarity towards people who have it. need, the highest level in almost ten years. Valuable data at a time when parliamentary debates are intensifying on the “full employment” bill and its measure aimed at “supporting” active solidarity income recipients through fifteen to twenty hours of weekly activity.
Heterogeneous economic postures
If social concerns seem to have become more apparent – undoubtedly given the inflationary context – a political divide remains with regard to the budgetary means committed to reducing the debt. If left-wing voters advocate an increase in taxes on businesses – respectively 43% of voters from La France insoumise (LFI) and the Communist Party (PCF), 54% of those from Europe Ecologie-Les Verts and 55% from Socialist Party (PS) versus 34% for all respondents – supporters of the Les Républicains (LR, 41%) or Reconquest party! (54%) favor reducing public spending.
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