This chapter provides an overview of French public opinion in the turbulent political context of spring 2024. It focuses on (1) levels of trust in the various political actors and institutions that structure France’s multi-level democracy, and (2) how this trust relates to public attitudes on polarising issues in contemporary European societies, such as immigration, climate change and gender equality. Our analyses, therefore, shed light on current trends in attitudinal, behavioural and representational trust in France. Our analyses confirm several relationships frequently highlighted in the literature: individuals with higher levels of education tend to report greater attitudinal and representational trust. In addition, educated citizens, young people and men engage in a wider range of participatory activities. However, our findings challenge the assumption that older generations are necessarily more trusting than younger ones. While older citizens express greater trust in regional politicians, it is young people who report higher levels of trust in national and European politicians. Moreover, younger respondents display higher levels of representational trust. Regarding the issues mentioned above, we observe positive correlations between expressing pro-immigration, pro-environmental and feminist views, on the one hand, and being educated, left-leaning and politically trustful, on the other.

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France: Attitudinal, Behavioural and Representational Trust and Legitimacy in the French Multi-Level Democracy

  • Max-Valentin Robert,
  • Felix-Christopher von Nostitz

摘要

This chapter provides an overview of French public opinion in the turbulent political context of spring 2024. It focuses on (1) levels of trust in the various political actors and institutions that structure France’s multi-level democracy, and (2) how this trust relates to public attitudes on polarising issues in contemporary European societies, such as immigration, climate change and gender equality. Our analyses, therefore, shed light on current trends in attitudinal, behavioural and representational trust in France. Our analyses confirm several relationships frequently highlighted in the literature: individuals with higher levels of education tend to report greater attitudinal and representational trust. In addition, educated citizens, young people and men engage in a wider range of participatory activities. However, our findings challenge the assumption that older generations are necessarily more trusting than younger ones. While older citizens express greater trust in regional politicians, it is young people who report higher levels of trust in national and European politicians. Moreover, younger respondents display higher levels of representational trust. Regarding the issues mentioned above, we observe positive correlations between expressing pro-immigration, pro-environmental and feminist views, on the one hand, and being educated, left-leaning and politically trustful, on the other.