ABSTENTION. While abstention is breaking records from ballot to ballot, will it be massive on the occasion of the favorite election of the French? Can we fight against it? What are the polls saying?
On Sundays April 10 and 14, 2022, the French are invited to go to the polls to elect the next President of the Fifth Republic. Only here, on February 11, a survey carried out by Ipsos-Sopra Steria, in partnership with the Center for Political Research of Sciences Po (Cevipof) and the Jean Jaurès Foundation for Le Monde revealed that the French are less interested in this campaign. than in previous presidential elections. Thus, 71% of our fellow citizens say they are “interested” in this year’s election, compared to 81% in 2017 and 80% in 2012. In addition, abstention is becoming stronger election after election. All of this may raise questions about the possibility of a new abstention record for the 2022 presidential election.
For the moment, 68% of the French people questioned say that they will vote in the first round, according to the latest Harris-Interactive poll of this Wednesday, February 23. If we believe the photograph represented by a survey on D-Day, this would be a record (so far the lowest participation rate in the first round is 71.60% in 2002). However, the executive does not want to be defeatist and intends to increase this participation rate. From this Friday, February 25, 2022, a major campaign will be launched to fight against abstention. One of the target populations will be young people: a video of Quentin Deronzier, an influencer who has 100,000 followers on Instagram, will be broadcast on social networks.