By voting for the Rassemblement National (RN, far right), which campaigned on the concept of "double borders," the promise of "systematic rejection" of migrant boats, the outsourcing of asylum processing or even the idea that France is a "social assistance office" for foreigners, did French voters primarily signify their rejection of immigration? Nearly half of them (43%) said that immigration had been a decisive issue in their vote in the European elections on Sunday, June 9, where the RN received 31.4% of the vote. These are the findings of an Ipsos exit poll. Of the 16 topics put to respondents, immigration came second, behind purchasing power (45%) and ahead of environmental protection (27%). "This is an important difference from the 2019 European poll, when purchasing power (38%), the environment (38%), France's place in the world (32%) and immigration (32%) were almost at the same level," Ipsos points out.

Among right-wing and far-right voters, the weight of the "immigration" subject is even stronger: it is cited by 79% (first place) of Jordan Bardella voters and 57% (also first place) of François-Xavier Bellamy voters but by only 13% of voters on Raphaël Glucksmann's Parti Socialiste-Place Publique list. "Voters from the right to the far right have an anti-immigration stance, while the subject is minor among left-wing voters," noted Emmanuel Rivière, political scientist and associate director of the Grand Public agency.

This anti-immigration stance was all the more pronounced on June 9 as the subject is seen as a European issue, even more than a national one. The spring Eurobarometer survey illustrates this. Responding to the question "What are the two most important problems facing the European Union?" and choosing from a list of 15 choices, 19% of French voters answered immigration, behind the war in Ukraine (30%) and the cost of living (23%).

The rise in the RN vote across the country also demonstrates the success of the far-right party's strategy of normalization among a broader fringe of voters. "Today, xenophobia is becoming a legitimate driving force behind voting among some people who previously didn't vote based on this issue," says Vincent Tiberj, sociologist and political scientist, University Professor at Science Po Bordeaux. "It's the result of a long process, which began in the 1980s with the Front National and has grown over time. With Nicolas Sarkozy's presidential campaign and his election, immigration and Islam entered the realm of legitimate debate. Since the 2010s, we've also seen the establishment of a whole ecosystem that conveys an anti-immigrant discourse in certain media and among certain intellectuals."

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