France on the brink of rupture: an unprecedented crisis of confidence

France-Soir and the Association BonSens.org made a series of sociological surveys, with a third wave carried out on 27 and 28 March 2025 by MIS Group. After the January and February 2025 polls, which had already highlighted a crisis of confidence in the management of Emmanuel Macron and opacity around the side effects of covid vaccines, this new study paints an alarming portrait of French perceptions. At the approach of the 2027 election deadlines and in a climate of international tensions – especially around the conflict in Ukraine and global economic pressures, the French have expressed a deep rejection of their institutions and a desire for radical transformation.

The free fall of institutions: a crisis of total legitimacy

The survey reveals a massive disapproval: 76% of French people criticize the management of Emmanuel Macron, and only 4% believe that he is leading the country in the right direction.

Legislative institutions are not spared: 69% disapprove of the National Assembly, 58% the Senate, and 56% the Council of State. Less than 20% of respondents have a favourable opinion of these counter-powers, a historically low figure that transcends political divides.

This mistrust is explained by a perception of inefficiency and corruption: 71% do not have confidence in the government, 72% believe that it does not act in their interest, and 75% believe that corruption gangrenes the system.

In March 2025, the financial scandals involving local elected officials and dubious public contracts, relayed by the independent media, have only served to amplify this sentiment.

Public spending in the viewfinder: fed up of waste

The French are unanimous: 93% denounce public spending tainted with waste, fraud and inefficiency.

In a context in which the French public debt exceeds 120 % of GDP in 2025, according to IMF projections, 87 % require measures – even draconian – to restore the budgetary balance.

And 89% believe that the opposition of right and left should impose a mission to reduce government spending! Could a waste reduction target involve members of the national representation? If the latter were really acting in the interest of the population, it could flow from source!

An overwhelming majority of 96% plebiscites a decrease in spending…….

……. with 90% supporting a large-scale fight against fraud and 86% a reduction in budgets already voted.

The ZFE and global warming: when ecology becomes synonymous with exclusion and segregation

Climate policy is crystallizing tensions. The Low Emission Areas (ZFE), deployed in major cities such as Paris and Lyon, are perceived as discriminatory by 66% of French people, who see it as a law of social exclusion affecting the most modest.

In March 2025, protests against the ZFE in Lille and Marseille, where motorists blocked roads, amplified this grumbling.

On global warming, 77% are calling for a complete overhaul of current policies, criticising a dogmatic approach that ignores divergent scientific advice. The transition to wind divides: 53 % oppose ending the policy of energy transition to wind and 47% are in favour. This is a real subject, especially with the rise in prices of energy perceived as a real problem in the lives of the French.

Unsustainable debt: categorical refusal of new sacrifices

While the French debt reached peaks in 2025, 81% of the respondents consider it unsustainable.

Faced with this situation, the government’s funding proposals are massively rejected:

• 81 % oppose rises in taxes,
• 46% refuse a large national loan
• and 70% reject a war tax to reduce the deficit – a figure up 17 points since January.

• In a climate of mistrust towards the European Union, 79% also oppose the mobilization of savings for a hypothetical war effort related to the Ukrainian conflict, perceived as an attempt to divert the funds of the French in favour of foreign interests.

Europe and sovereignty: fracture with the elites

The idea of a federal Europe, promoted by Emmanuel Macron, is losing speed: 52% are opposed, against 22% who support it. Conversely, 55% support a Europe of Nations based on trade agreements, reflecting an attachment to national sovereignty.

Perception of corruption within the European institutions (71%) reinforces this rejection, while investigations into malfeasance in Brussels are making headlines in 2025.

On the geopolitical level, however the opposition to the sending of troops to Ukraine (73%) and the mutualization of the French nuclear reflects a desire to disengage from military adventures driven by NATO.

The demand for Macron resignation (for 54% of French people) reflects a widespread ras-le-bol (fed up), exacerbated by social inequalities, economic crises and policies perceived as disconnected.

 

yogaesoteric
April 9, 2025