Over Six in Ten French Say Country has Seen Too Much Immigration

A poll released this week has revealed that 65 per cent of the French public believe that the country has seen too much immigration, with older French far more concerned with the issue.

The poll, which was conducted by the CSA Institute, revealed that 65 per cent of French people overall say that the country has seen too much immigration with a small minority claiming that France has not seen enough immigration.

When broken down by age, only those in the 18 to 24-year-old demographic thought France had not seen enough immigration at 60 per cent, while 72 per cent of people 50 to 64 think France has seen too much immigration, broadcaster CNews, which sponsored the survey, reports.

Politically, those on the right are far more concerned about immigration than left-wing parties, however, among supporters of the far-left La France Insoumise party, just 51 per cent said that there had not been enough immigration into France, while the number was much higher among other left-wing parties.

Concerns over immigration may have played a role in the massive gains seen by Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) at the parliamentary elections last weekend as Ms Le Pen campaigned on the issue and had previously promised a referendum on immigration during her campaign for the French presidency.

The RN election performance, which turned eight seats won in 2017 into 89 seats last Sunday, has made Le Pen’s party into a major player in the French parliament as President Emmanuel Macron’s bloc was unable to secure a majority.

Le Pen has since announced she will step down as the president of her party to focus on leading her group in parliament, likely to be the largest after the Macron bloc as the leftist NUPES coalition has so far refused to form a single bloc in parliament.

Speaking after the election result, Le Pen highlighted immigration saying, “It is true that we were pleasantly surprised by the mobilisation of our compatriots and by this wish that immigration, insecurity, the fight against Islamism do not disappear from the National Assembly.”

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