A newly released poll that surveyed the opinions of French women has revealed that well over two-thirds, nearly seven in ten, support establishing news law that would ban foreigners who haven’t lived in the country for at least five years from accessing the country’s generous social welfare system.
The survey, conducted by the Institut français d’opinion publique (IFOP) and published by Femme Actuelle, found that the vast majority of France’s female voters want to see the French welfare state drastically scaled back for foreigners, with nearly seven in ten (69%) of respondents saying five years of regular residency should be a precondition for accessing any kind of social welfare benefits, Le Journal du Dimanche reports.
In light of the fact that 77% of French men were found to hold the same opinion, it isn’t particularly hard to see why each of France’s right-wing presidential candidates—Éric Zemmour, Marine Le Pen, and Valérie Pécresse—have taken positions which favor limiting or eliminating social welfare benefits paid out to foreigners, courtesy of working French taxpayers.
Interestingly—and likely contrary to what most would expect—supporters of the center-right establishment candidate Valérie Pécresse (LR) were the most likely to support banning social welfare payments to foreigners, at 89%, while 85% and 84% of Éric Zemmour (Reconquête!) and Marine Le Pen (RN) support the same policy, respectively.
Additionally, 70% of women and 72% of men support a policy that would limit family allowances only to those with French nationality or from another European Union member state.
The survey’s figures come after two separate polls, both of which were conducted by IFOP, which revealed that 7 out of 10 French citizens believe the country no longer has the means to welcome migrants and therefore should not receive any more. One of the polls, which collected its data during the winter and spring of 2021, revealed 64% of French men and women think the country should cease its intake of migrants because they’re contributing to the growing threat of terrorism and insecurity—two issues that 90% of citizens recently said would determine the presidential candidates they vote for this April.
