While the role of Islam in French society has long been a divisive and inflammatory topic a new study suggests people in France are now more accepting of the religion.
The new survey showed that 56 percent of French people believe Islam to be compatible with the values of French society compared to two years ago when the same percentage believed the opposite to be true.
Carried out by pollsters Ifop on behalf of Le Journal de Dimanche, the survey however also showed that 43 percent of the country does not think the religion is compatible with life in France (see graph below).
The survey comes at a time when France is waiting for President Macron to deliver his vision for the role of Islam in French society.
In an interview with Le Journal de Dimanche in November the president said he wanted “to reorganize Islam in France to better integrate worship, fight fundamentalism and preserve ‘national cohesion’.”
In September, a survey that looked at how Muslims themselves felt about their home country showed that Muslims living in France feel a stronger attachment to their country than they do in much of Europe, despite experiencing high levels of discrimination. That study also found that first generation Muslims feel more attached to France than their offspring.
This week’s Journal de Dimanche survey also asked the French what they thought about the creation of a tax on halal products, the revenues of which would be used to finance Muslim worship in France.
On this point, there was no debate, with the large majority of respondents (70 percent) opposed to the idea and only 29 percent of French people saying they were in favor of a “halal tax”.
The subject of Muslim integration in France is one of the country’s most hotly debated issues and so it probably doesn’t come as a surprise that people’s views on this matter varied greatly according to which political party they supported.
The survey showed that the more left-wing the voter, the more likely they were to consider Islam compatible with French society.
In total, 73 percent of people who supported France’s Socialist party believed Islam to be compatible as did 60 percent of those who supported left-wing party “La France Insoumise” (France Unbowed).
And 58 percent of people who supported French president Emmanuel Macron’s Republique en Marche party thought the same.
At the other end of the political spectrum, among those who support the right-wing Les Republicains party, 63 percent think that the religion is “incompatible with the values of the French society”.
Somewhat surprisingly, National Front voters were slightly less likely to think of the Muslim religion as incompatible with French society but the figure was still high, at 62 percent.
