Majority of French want a strong leader who breaks the rules

If you thought 2016 was rocky, fasten your seatbelts for the years ahead. Two surveys carried out by the polling firm Ipsos Mori predict a future of growing political uncertainty as many people around the world believe their country is in decline and the system is rigged against them.

Sixty-four per cent of individuals, across all countries surveyed, think traditional parties and politicians do not care about people such as them. Sixty-nine per cent say they believe their country’s economy is rigged to the advantage of the rich and powerful. This, the researchers say, “translates into high levels of support for a strong leader willing to break the rules”.

Support for such a leader is especially high in France, say the researchers, where 80 per cent of those polled have expressed this view. The country is holding a presidential election in May.

Ipsos also found that in France, Italy and Hungary dissatisfaction with politics is associated with strong “nativist” sentiment — a belief, for example, that immigrants take jobs and important social services from the locally born.

That same pattern can also be observed in Turkey, where seven out of 10 people think that it should be a priority for companies to hire nationals over foreigners, even if that means slower job growth.