Survey says: . . .

The public doesn’t yet appear to be “going zappo” yet as Zek suspects, but is beginning to take the government to task on its’ handling of the civil unrest. TF1 reported tonight on a Louis-Harris poll conducted between Friday and Saturday:

«The report drawn up by a survey by LH2 (formerly Louis-Harris) is critical of the government’s ability to cope with the present situation. A large majority of the French (71%) find that the government’s approach to "the situation in the suburbs" is going in "the wrong direction", according to LH2’s monthly poll. This survey was carried out on November 4th and 5th.

Another finding is that for 59% of the French the government’s policy toward the fight against violence is going "in the wrong direction", versus 34% who disagree. "It is a spectacular fall of 21%, the first since 2002 when the number of dissatisfied people surveyed outnumbered the number who were satisfied. And safety was the only are where the French recognized the effectiveness of the government" they told François Miquet-Marty, the director of polical studies of Louis-Harris.

Even if in this poll, the popularity of the Prime Minister grew in 2 areas (45% favorability), "the continuation of violence will serve to further doubt in the the effectiveness of the government’s actions", it said. "the political implications to Jacques Chirac and his Prime Minister (...) will expose them directly." For François Miquet-Marty, "the Chirac-Villepin executive saw its most difficult period to date.

The survey was conducted by telephone on November 4th and 5th with a sample of 1007 people representative of the French population 18 years and older.»