Hlasy pro Francouzskou národní frontu
The Vote for the National Front (France)

Summary/Abstract: Founded in 1972, the National Front made its mark in the 1980s as one of the major players in the French political life. Millions of French at one time or another, have cast their votes for this party. The article aims to analyze this electorate under a triple perspective: in the first section, we present the historical evolution of the vote, with particular emphasis on periods of voters inflow and outflow, and stress the change occurred after the rise of Marine Le Pen to the head of the party with a more opened, more social program to attract new voters; the second part is focused on the sociological approach and presents the socio-professional groups traditionally voting for the FN (workers and sole traders), as well as recent developments since the arrival of the new management (increased women and youth vote, the position of Muslim voters); finally, the third section is devoted to the electoral geography by analyzing various fractures of the electoral map: between the East and the West of France, the North and the South and between the cities and their outskirts where new voters of the National Front, i.e. a falling, destabilised middle class, seem to be concentrated. In conclusion, the article examines the nature of the vote for this party whose position is compared to that of the French Communist party in the 1950s to determine if it is subject to a protest vote or to a vote based on traditional support to the party.

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