Elected officials considered powerless in the face of the crises France is going through

The French feel vulnerable in this new era of “polycrisis” and local authorities seem powerless to support them in the necessary adaptations. In any case, this is what emerges from the third edition of the Territories Barometer, published on January 14, 2025 by Elabe with the Institut Montaigne and the SNCF group. The survey, carried out every two years among 10,000 people in the 12 metropolitan regions, describes the daily lives of women and men in all its aspects (purchasing power, health, safety, extreme weather events, housing, work, mobility). who live in France.

After “France in pieces” during the yellow vest crisis and a “convalescent France, a close France” coming out of covid, the report shows a “distraught France in search of tranquility”, in a context of social and health crises , budgetary, ecological, political, geopolitical, and intends to outline what future citizens aspire to in this period of upheaval. First observation: “This situation has led to an unprecedented erasure of historical socio-economic and territorial divides as keys to reading, diagnosis and search for solutions in our country, indicates the document, social status, level of diploma or location housing no longer protect against vulnerabilities and the French overwhelmingly find themselves experiencing combined feelings of insecurity.

60% of Occitanie residents find it difficult to access a job

Socio-economic insecurity, and the fear of downgrading, are among the primary concerns of the French. 54% of them fear having to change their way of living because of a drop in their purchasing power (food, housing, leisure, vacations) and all social groups are concerned. However, differences are perceptible depending on the region: 60% of inhabitants of Occitanie and 57% of Hauts-de-France find it difficult to access a job compared to 36% in Loire" rel="tag">Pays de la Loire and 38% in Brittany.

Second difficulty: physical insecurity. 46% of French people feel exposed to the risk of physical attack and 59% fear the same thing for their children. “A third of residents of large urban centers see the tranquility of their neighborhood disrupted by drug trafficking, or even their safety put in danger (52% in Marseille, 45% in Seine-Saint-Denis, 36% in Paris and the Val-d'Oise)”, indicates the barometer.

The French are also experiencing climate insecurity, with consequences on their living conditions and economic activity. “One in two French people fear suffering harsher living conditions due to climate change (heatwaves, floods, etc.), four in ten of suffering damage linked to natural disasters to their homes and/or the infrastructure around them ( roads, power lines, etc.)”. In this area, there are strong regional disparities: 56% of inhabitants of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (Paca) and 48% of Occitanie consider living in a place exposed to climate risks compared to 28% of Bretons and Normans. These are the same people who are more worried about the consequences of climate change on the economy of their region, particularly in relation to Pays de la Loire and Ile-de-France.

The French are very attached to France and even more to their region

Finally, health insecurity, fueled by the feeling of deterioration of our health model, is causing concern. 43% of French people fear falling ill because of pollution (more in Ile-de-France “49%”, than in Brittany, “36%”), and 41% fear being confronted with mental health problems . “In 2025, the financial difficulty of accessing care (41%) and the difficulty of accessing caregivers (46%) bring to 54% in total the share of French people fearing not being able to seek treatment in the event of a problem “, underlines the barometer.

And if the French are largely attached to France (80%) and to their region of residence (85% for Brittany, 78% for New Aquitaine, 77% for Paca), 61% consider that their country is in decline, and has lost its economic power (52%). A country in which, according to them, it is difficult to do business (56%).

And faced with this observation of decline, the public authorities seem powerless: less than half of French people believe that the President of the Republic has the means to change people's lives (45%). At the local level, we find the same proportions (48% for the mayor). Note, companies have a higher credit for action (52%) and a greater capital of trust than the various elected officials (46%). This feeling of powerlessness among elected officials fuels abstention. “Three out of ten French people believe that no politician cares about improving the lives of citizens, or solving France's problems, four out of ten that they are not interested in everyday life and people's aspirations , five out of ten that they do not know how to put their personal ambition aside to put themselves at the service of the general interest”, affirm the authors of the document.

Territorial inequalities in terms of adaptation capacity

Furthermore, and contrary to the image of the “refractory Gaul”, the barometer indicates that the French are open to change, even if they are unequal in their possibilities of adaptation to economic and climatic developments. Example: the territory can be a barrier when it is far from major infrastructures, particularly transport. Thus, 69% of residents of the Paris metropolitan area can choose the train over the car when they want, compared to 43% of rural residents. 77% of Ile-de-France residents and 61% of residents of the south of the Paca region believe they live in a place well served by public transport, compared to only 45% of residents of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Centre-Val of Loire. And these financial or territorial obstacles to the ability to adapt create a feeling of injustice (40%) or anger (23%).

Geographically, we can also note that certain regions (Brittany, Ile-de-France, Pays de la Loire, Paca and Nouvelle-Aquitaine) are doing better than others on a good number of items tested: Brittany for attachment to the region, the well-being of its inhabitants, optimism about the future of the region, Ile-de-France for public transport, shops, public services and employment, or again Paca for public transport, public services and attachment to the region.