the French want the protest to continue even if the reform is adopted

69% of French people support the mobilization. Francois BOUCHON / Le Figaro

The end of the debates will perhaps not sign the end of the mobilization. While the parliamentary examination of the pension reform project must be completed on March 15, the boss of the CGT, Philippe Martinez, hammered home his desire to register the movement in the long term. A wish clearly supported by 57% of French people, who would also like the protest to continue, including after the adoption of the text, as revealed by the latest wave of the Odoxa-Backbone Consulting survey for Le Figaro.

While the processions brought together between 1.3 and 3.5 million people in the streets on Tuesday – according to the figures respectively communicated by the police and by the CGT – the country therefore seems to continue to side mainly with the protest. . And for good reason, after already six days of action in almost three months, 69% of respondents still say they approve of the movement. A slight increase of +3 points compared to the first meeting on January 19, when 1 to 2 million people had beaten the pavement. “For many months, the government has undoubtedly hoped that the French will eventually get tired of the mobilizations”points out Gaël Sliman, director of Odoxa.

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If Emmanuel Macron repeated that he wanted to lead the text “at its end“, even his own base seems resigned, since only a small majority of Renaissance sympathizers (55%) say they are “opposite” to the dispute. Conversely, a third of them (32%) claim to be in favor of the mobilizations. A trend that is also felt among supporters of the Republicans, an electorate nevertheless concerned about a return to financial balance: 39% say in fact “sustain” the social movement.

Therefore, in this showdown with the intersyndicale, opinion polls confirm week after week that the government has already lost the battle for image. “The protests are increasingly becoming one of strong global discontent, a feeling that life is increasingly difficult and expensive”, analyzes Véronique Reille-Soult, director of Backbone Consulting. So much so that even the threat of a “shutdown” of the country would no longer be able to reverse the trend. Six out of ten French people say they are still ready to accept the consequences, i.e. a slight drop of only -3 points compared to the January 31. “Opinion is remarkably consistent on this subject. Since January 19, the support level has been between 56% and 63%”, emphasizes Gaël Sliman. Especially since a clear majority of respondents (64%) would attribute the responsibility for a blockage to the executive, against only 35% to the unions.

Nevertheless, despite the calls for a renewable strike in key sectors, the specter of paralysis is still far away. All the refineries were indeed blocked on Tuesday, preventing fuel deliveries, but the mobilization of March 7 did not put “the economy on its knees”, as certain radical federations of the CGT had promised. As a result, only one in four French people was “embarrassed” by trade union actions – both in his travels and in his professional activity. It is certainly a little more than at the end of January; but it is not yet the great evening so much announced.