Two thirds of French people believe that immigration from Muslim and African nations is ‘threatened by extinction’.
When pollsters asked French citizens, sixty percent said that such a scenario would ‘definitely or ‘probably play out in the country. The results were published last week.
The question was posed before next year’s elections, where Emmanuel Macron almost certain to face off with one of two right-wing candidates: Marine Le Pen oder Eric Zemmour.
A poll revealed that two-thirds of French people believe that European, white, and Christian populations are ‘under threat from extinction’ due to Muslim immigration from Africa.
The poll was taken to gauge belief in the idea that there would be a Grand Replacement. This concept was promoted by Eric Zemmour, a right-wing pundit who could challenge Macron in next year’s election.
Central to Zemmour’s ideology in the idea of ‘The Great Replacement’, a theory put forward by Renaud Camus that argues Christian civilisation is being intentionally replaced using Muslim immigration from Africa in a plot by global capitalists.
The poll was carried out by Harris InteractiveThe purpose of the experiment was to determine whether voters believe in the concept, despite it being widely discredited by experts.
Based on Camus’s definition of “great replacement”, the question that voters were asked was: “Some people speak about the “great substitute”: That European, White, and Christian populations are facing extinction due to Muslim immigration from the Maghreb [northern Africa]and black Africa. Do you see such an event?
It was found that 61% of French people believe the phenomenon can happen in France. 27% say they are certain it will.
Only 39% of people said it would not happen.
It was almost equally supported by all age groups and genders, with most saying it ‘definitely or ‘probably’ would happen.
However, it varies greatly depending on your political affiliation.
More than 90% of supporters for Le Pen’s RN party believe it is a likely scenario, while only 30% of Green agree.
It was worrying for Macron that 52% of his party’s supporters believed it was possible.
A follow-up survey asked French people if they were ‘worried or ‘not concerned’ about the idea a Great Replacement’.
This revealed that 67% of people were concerned about the idea, while only 33% were.
For years, polls suggested that Marine Le Pen (left), would be the one to challenge Emmanuel Macron (right), but Zemmour could now be her best.
As Zemmour, who has yet not declared his candidacy, threatens to take on Macron, the issue of migration and its effect on French identity will be a major theme of the forthcoming election.
Zemmour, a French figure known for his anti-Islamic and anti-migration views which he espouses on his TV show, is currently polling higher than Le Pen.
Le Pen seems to be giving Zemmour support as she tries her best to move towards the centre-ground to portray herself as a serious candidate after losing to Macron in the second round of voting.
By contrast, Zemmour sits openly on the far-right – declaring that suburbs of Paris are being ‘colonised’ by Muslim migrants with large families that he says will make up the majority of the population by the middle of the century.
Statisticians claim that this argument is flawed, but polls show that voters are accepting his arguments.
He was also convicted of hate speech.
France’s political right shift comes after a string terrorist attacks that saw voters demand tougher extremism policies from politicians.
After showing students a cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammed, teacher Samuel Paty was executed at a Paris school last year. This happened just weeks after a second attack on Nice cathedral that killed three.
Macron took a much harder line on Islamic extremism after Paty’s death. He declared that France would never give up free speech, including the ability to draw pictures of Mohammed.
The comments were condemned by Turkey’s President Erdogan and prompted mass protests across many Muslim-majority states.