Ed West Ed West

Why do so many French youngsters support Marine Le Pen?

I’m very sceptical of the idea that the younger generation are more conservative than their elders, and that this makes conservatism somehow cool, which it isn’t. There have been times where the kids are more reactionary than their parents but generally only as a result of religious movements – and Britain is as atheistic as can be. Young Brits are very liberal and cosmopolitan, even compared to their peers in other European countries. In polls they express low levels of pride in their country and an unwillingness to fight in any theoretical war.

The Brexit vote, and the big gap between old and young, showed just how liberal the young are. In fact if the surviving voters from June 23 were counted again the result would surely be closer, as a not insignificant proportion of those who voted Leave must already be in heaven – which I imagine looks like 1950s Britain anyway. This progressivism is far more pronounced among students, which suggests that either intelligence and liberalism correlate or that universities have become very effective means of disseminating social values. It may also be that the free market ideology that is dominant in Britain also promotes a more globalist mindset, which mixed with progressivism is sometimes called ‘neoliberalism’. But things are very different just 22 miles away, where young French voters are enthusiastic about the Front National, something that would be inconceivable over here:

Why are the French like that? There are a number of theories. One must be the high rate of youth unemployment, which pushes people towards more extreme politics.

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