LONDON — Months before unrest spread across France, the national mood was already darkening, with growing pessimism about local economic conditions and declining confidence in national institutions. Gallup’s latest annual survey of France, conducted from late May to mid-August, found several instances where public opinion had reached new lows or tied previous ones.
Economic Optimism Sinks as Hardship Bites
The French have been pessimistic about economic conditions for the past two decades, but perceptions this year are among the most negative on record. One in seven adults (14%) say their local economy is getting better, down seven percentage points from 2025 and near the previous record lows between 2014 and 2016 in the aftermath of the Eurozone crisis. More than five times as many say things are getting worse (73%), only the second time in the past two decades that this figure has surpassed 70%.
This pessimism cuts across all parts of French society. The richest 20% of earners feel just as gloomy (12% say the economy is getting better) as the poorest 20% (15%). Last year, France ranked among the 10 least economically optimistic countries out of 139 surveyed, alongside the United Kingdom, Lebanon, Türkiye and Bolivia. Full global data for 2026 are not yet available, but France will likely remain among the most pessimistic economies in the world.
This year, 22% say they have struggled to afford food — the first time on record that more than one in five French adults have reported such hardship. It is also twice the level from 2021 (11%), the year before the invasion of Ukraine, subsequent rising inflation, and the cost-of-living crisis.
The French economy is also struggling under the weight of a sovereign debt crisis, leaving little room for the government to maneuver. National debt as a proportion of GDP has risen significantly in recent years, spiking to 119% amid the riots, further unsettling an already fragile bond market.
Confidence in National Institutions Now a Minority View
Discontent is not limited to the economy. For the first time in two decades, less than half of French adults say they have confidence in the honesty of their country’s elections. Even smaller percentages are confident in the judicial system and the national government.
Confidence in the honesty of elections has fallen to 46%, representing an 18-point decline in two years. Confidence in the French judiciary has followed a similar trajectory since 2024, collapsing by 21 points to a new low of 38%. While similar to perceptions a year ago, confidence in the national government remains low at 27%, essentially tying the level recorded in 2014 under President Francois Hollande. More generally, the French public has always viewed its national government with greater skepticism than other institutions.
Young adults, a driving force behind the recent protests in France, generally have less confidence in institutions than older adults, despite being somewhat more positive about their local economic outlook.
Safety Perceptions Slipped Before the Unrest
This year, 64% of French adults say they feel safe walking alone at night in their area, down seven points to its lowest level in more than a decade. Between 2017 and 2025, the proportion of adults who felt safe walking alone at night remained above 70% and stable.
At the same time, safety and security issues have risen as national concerns. The percentage of adults identifying safety and security as France’s most important problem has roughly doubled, from 8% in 2025 to 17% in 2026. This places safety alongside long-standing concerns about politics and government (20%) and the economy (19%) and puts it on par with social issues (14%), which have also increased this year.
Despite the record-high levels of self-reported food hardship, the percentage who name affording food and shelter as the top national issue remains low, at 2%.
EU Approval Gains Under Macron Have Been Wiped Out
The EU’s leadership rating in France has also taken a hit in the past two years. For much of Emmanuel Macron’s two terms in the Élysée, approval of Brussels rose steadily. In 2017, 39% approved of the EU’s leadership, while 56% disapproved. By 2022, these numbers had flipped (54% approving and 39% disapproving), and they remained stable at this level until 2024. But since then, approval of the EU has sunk by double digits to 40% this year, almost back in line with the figures from Macron’s first year in power.
Despite being a well-known Europhile and advocate of greater European integration, Macron will leave office with French adults feeling about as negatively toward Brussels as they did when he came to power.
France’s relationship with Europe is set to be a defining issue in the coming election. The two current front-runners, according to domestic polling, come from the far-right in Marine Le Pen and from the hard-left in Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Le Pen is running on an anti-EU platform that promises to slash budget funding and cut aid to Ukraine, while Mélenchon is also a long-time Euroskeptic.
Bottom Line
Across many indicators, from perceptions of the economy to leadership, institutions and public safety, the French mood was worsening in the run-up to the demonstrations and riots of recent weeks. While these trends in and of themselves did not cause the riots, they provide an important backdrop for contextualizing them.
After several years of relative stability in public opinion under Macron, the public mood has soured in the final years of his presidency, and the political center ground that swept him to power is looking increasingly fragile ahead of next year’s election.
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