Majority of French Back Holding a Referendum on Limiting Immigration

A poll has revealed that 62 per cent of French people would support holding a nationwide referendum on the subject of limiting immigration to France.

The poll of 1,000 people conducted by the CSA Institute and commissioned by CNews was released on Thursday and showed that just 19 per cent of those surveyed were totally against the idea of an immigration referendum, and a further 18 per cent were somewhat opposed to it.

Women voted slightly higher in favour than men for holding an immigration referendum at 63 per cent to 62 per cent, according to the broadcaster’s report.

When broken down into age groups, respondents aged 18 to 24 were the most in favour of holding a referendum at nearly seven in ten, compared with 50- to 64-year-olds where the support for the referendum was at 58 per cent, the lowest proportion amongst the various age groups.

In terms of political affiliation, supporters of the populist National Rally (RN) led by Marine Le Pen were overwhelmingly favouring a referendum on immigration with 98 per cent support.

Ms Le Pen has previously floated the idea of a referendum on immigration in the past, first in 2019, when she proposed several possible referendum questions such as on birthright citizenship, family reunification (or chain migration), and whether France should resume control of its own borders.

“These are questions to which the French have the right to answer, have the right to be questioned because it’s been for the past 30 years that an immigration policy which is contrary to their will has been carried out,” Le Pen said at the time.

In March, Le Pen brought up the idea again, saying that an immigration referendum would be her first act if elected president in the 2022 French presidential elections.

“It has been decades since the various governments made decisions on immigration with the French people ever being listen[ed] to or questioned on the subject,” Le Pen said.

“Secondly, I would go to the European Commission [the EU’s powerful unelected executive] to explain to them what I consider to be non-negotiable in the area of national sovereignty and in particular the control of our borders because I consider border control a matter of national sovereignty,” she said.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com