7 in 10 French people in favour of lockdown, survey shows
This figure is lower among young people and Parisian shopkeepers
A new survey shows that 71% of French people are in favour of an extended lockdown lasting throughout the festive period and into the New Year.
The figures are based on a recent survey carried out by French market research company IFOP at the request of communication and management strategy company No-Com.
France entered a second national lockdown on October 30 that is due to last until at least December 1, although it may be extended if the number of daily Covid-19 cases does not drop below 5,000. France is still regularly recording over 30,000 per day.
Despite the high level of support for the lockdown, there are pockets of discontent. People under 25 are more likely to be against extending the confinement period, with 39% dismissing the idea.
In Paris, 35% of shopkeepers are against extending the lockdown.
Pierre Giacometti, the president of No-Com, said the support for the lockdown is greater than it was in Spring.
“The French have now perfectly accepted the fact that we are going through a serious and long sanitary crisis. They have made up their minds. It's a big change compared to last spring when the dominant feeling was that it was more of a winter epidemic,” he wrote for newspaper Le Parisien.
He said that fear of the virus has increased since Spring. The survey shows that 48% of people are scared of it today, compared to 42% last May. This figure is higher in rural areas at 62%.
The survey also found that faced with the choice between “economic crisis” and “the coronavirus pandemic” as being the biggest threat to France, more people today are choosing the virus.
At the end of May, 79% of people said the economic crisis was France’s biggest threat, compared with 21% for Covid-19.
At the end of October, 52% of people chose the economic crisis and 48% chose coronavirus.
The IFOP - No Com survey was carried out on October 29, 2020 and was taken by 1,028 people representative of the population in France.
Read more about France's lockdown:
France Lockdown: Your FAQs on Covid-19 confinement rules
English lockdown reinforces France travel restrictions
How to cope with the mental stress of France's lockdown
