Posted on 05/28/2002 7:34:53 PM PDT by blam
Support for Le Pen's policies rises sharply
Opinion poll reveals a country of xenophobes, says Le Monde
Jon Henley in Paris
Wednesday May 29, 2002
The Guardian
Nearly half the French electorate support the hardline law and order policies of Jean-Marie Le Pen and more than a quarter say they are "wholly or largely in agreement" with the rest of this views, according to a survey published yesterday. Three weeks after Mr Le Pen rocked France by reaching the run-off round of the presidential election, the survey by the Sofres polling agency underlined the rising grassroots support for his racist National Front party and confirmed that it is likely to play a crucial role in next month's general election.
About 28% of those questioned said they backed Mr Le Pen's stance on most issues, one of the highest ratings achieved by the far right and a sharp increase on the 11% support found by a similar survey in 1999. That year 63% of respondents were "totally opposed" to the NF; this time only 49% are.
The authoritative daily Le Monde, which published the survey, said in an editorial that France was becoming a country of "ordinary xenophobia" where anti-immigrant views had been "liberated" by Mr Le Pen's presidential vote and racism was now "banal to the extent of being offended if you call it by its name".
A "country of xenophobes" was revealing itself "without shame or discomfort" and the limit had now been reached, the paper said.
The nation, it concluded yesterday, was undergoing a "'Lepenisation' of the mind" - a term vaunted by the far-right leader earlier this year.
Mr Le Pen, who was all but written off when his party split in two in 1999, won just under 18% of the vote in the presidential election - nearly 6m votes. Though he was heavily defeated by the conservative incumbent, Jacques Chirac, it was the most votes ever won by the far right in a national election.
A similar level of support in the two-round parliamentary vote on June 9 and 16 could split the conservative vote and usher in a leftwing government. That would severely limit Mr Chirac's room for manoeuvre, and might even provoke a constitutional crisis.
Asked why they supported Mr Le Pen, 40% of the 1,000 people questioned said they liked his tough law-and-order policies (14 points more than in 1999); 35% appreciated his defence of "traditional French values"; 27% liked his calls for tax cuts; and another 27% approved of his anti-immigrant stance.
His criticism of mainstream politicians as corrupt, self-serving and remote from the people won the backing of 26% of those polled.
"The leader of the National Front is clearly benefiting from a generally conservative and anti-crime mood," Le Monde said, but it added that such concerns were plainly not a monopoly of the far right - 86% of those polled agreed that the courts were not tough enough on petty delinquents, and 76% wanted the police to be given far wider powers.
Not all of Mr Le Pen's ideas are as popular as they have been in the past, however. Although 59% of the French still feel "there are too many immigrants in France", only 36% want the death penalty re-introduced (against 45% in 1999) and only 28% believe that Europe presents a threat to France's identity (39% three years ago).
And oddly, while support for many of the National Front's policies continues to grow, more and more people say they recognise the party is "a danger for democracy".
In 1999 only 33% felt it represented a threat. This year, after demonstrations against Le Pen during the presidential election, 70% say the party is dangerous.
Perhaps it is, if one considers that "pure" democracy amounts to nothing more than "mob rule". Since the current "loudest mob" within France of late are those who aren't even French, and have evinced little, if any desire to become so, then I suppose that the National Front could pose a "danger" to their agenda...
the infowarrior
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