“We are not giving up, and we will go further,” yellow vests said in a press release in which they called for an “Act 8” of protests. Fifty-five per cent of those surveyed said they wanted the protests to carry on, the poll by Odoxa Dentsu consulting for franceinfo radio and Le Figaro newspaper showed. Meanwhile a separate poll show discontent with President Emmanuel Macron is continuing with an overwhelming majority of French people unhappy with the way he and his centrist government are running the country.
Leaders of the yellow vest movement have urged the French to gather outside Paris’ town hall, before taking part in a march to Parliament.
However, support for the demonstrations, which have brought widespread disruption and damage and led to 10 deaths, has waned somewhat versus earlier surveys, and following President Emmanuel Macron’s bid to meet some of the protesters’ key demands.
Some 54 per cent of French people supported the protests on December 11 and 66 per cent on November 22, shortly after the grassroots movement erupted.
The demonstrations began mid-November over planned fuel tax hikes, but quickly tapped a broader frustration at the perceived squeeze in household buying power and mounting public dissatisfaction with Mr Macron’s policies, which are said to favour the urban elite over the rural working class.
The “yellow vest” protests – so-called because of the high-visibility safety jackets worn by the demonstrators and which all drivers must carry – have caused the biggest political crisis of Mr Macron’s 20-month presidency and rocked his authority.
In mid-December, after weeks of worsening protest violence, the 41-year old abandoned the fuel tax rises in response to the unrest and promised extra cash for minimum wage earners and tax cuts for struggling pensioners.
In the latest popularity poll for Mr Macron 75 percent of respondents said they were dissatisfied with the government’s measures and actions since he took over the reins of power in May 2017, compared to 25 per cent who said they were satisfied.
By comparison, only 59 per cent of French people were unhappy with the government in April 2018.
The poll of 1,004 people, carried out on January 2 and 3, also showed that the top political priority for 54 per cent of French people was introducing measures to boost their purchasing power.
Only 32 per cent of those interviewed listed the fight against unemployment – long the number one worry – as their most urgent concern, making it slip to fourth place after the need to tackle poverty and reduce taxes.
Since taking office, Mr Macron has outfaced trade unions and street protests as he loosened France’s rigid labour laws and overhauled the heavily indebted state-owned SNCF rail company, unshaken in his resolve to transform French society and inject new momentum into the sluggish economy.
In his televised New Year’s speech on Monday, the young leader struck an unapologetic note as he promised to press on with his reform plans, like tackling unemployment benefits and overhauling the bloated public sector, and urged voters to face up to economic realities.
He said: “In recent years, we’ve engaged in a blatant denial of reality. We can’t work less, earn more, cut taxes and increase spending.”
He also called for renewed national unity, saying that while debate and disagreements on key issues were legitimate, “irreconcilable divisions” risked to undermine the country as a whole.