More than 8 out of 10 French people think that Bayrou’s budget will harm their purchasing power, according to a survey
Opinion (with AFP)
Paris – 87% of French people think that François Bayrou’s budget will harm their purchasing power and 78% do not trust the Prime Minister to straighten the country’s finances, according to an Odoxa – Le Figaro survey, while 74% do not consider this budget “just”, according to another Ifop – LCI, both published on Thursday. The most unpopular measures are health savings (74% rejection) and the abolition of holidays (73%), according to this survey. Two proposals, however, arouse a “real support” according to the Institute: the freezing of state expenditure (80%) and a contribution of the richest (79%). 71% of French people would vote against this budget if they were deputies, concludes the survey. The survey was conducted by Odoxa – Backbone Consulting with a sample of 1,005 people, representative of the French population aged 18 and over, according to the quota method. The survey was carried out by Internet on July 16 and 17, 2025. The margin of error is between 1.4 and 3.1 points. If 57% of French people think that the plan announced Tuesday by François Bayrou is “necessary” given the debt situation, 72% find that it “does not equitably distribute the efforts requested”, according to another Ifop poll published Thursday for LCI. Only 43% of French people surveyed by IFOP consider this plan “courageous”, 69% believe that it is not “realistic”, and 74% do not consider it “just”. By political family, the plan is deemed necessary by 90% of reborn sympathizers, 81% of LRs but also 51% of RNs, 50% of environmentalists and 45% of socialists. The rebellious, however, are only 27% to judge him as well. But only reborn sympathizers consider him mainly equitable (61%). 77% of respondents disapprove of the abolition of two public holidays, the most unpopular measure of François Bayrou’s plan whose objective is to achieve 43.8 billion euros in savings in 2026. 74% approve the creation of a solidarity contribution for the highest incomes, the only measure mainly approved by the French, according to the survey. The investigation was carried out by IFOP with a sample of 1,000 people, representative of the French population aged 18 and over, according to the quota method. The interviews were carried out by self-administered online questionnaire on July 16, 2025. The margin of error is between 1.4 and 3.1 points. © Agence France-Presse
