How do French Protestants and Roman Catholics vote?

Protestants

The traditional conception is that French protestants mainly vote for leftist parties. That is a result of the historical bond between right-wing parties and the Roman Catholic Church. Socialists, on the other hand, traditionally fought for the freedom of religious convictions and thought. In addition, the Protestants have not forgotten how their fellow believers were forced to flee in the 17th century. Therefore, the Protestants today are in favour of mild legislation for refugees.

"The reality is a bit more nuanced", says Parisian professor of sociology Claude Dargent. "The group Evangelical Protestants has grown, and their political preference has shifted to the central and right of the spectrum." The shift happened partly due to the conservative views of the right-wing parties on ethical issues.

That view is confirmed by research from the Evangelical umbrella organisation CNEF from December 2021. The study shows that more than 60 per cent of the Evangelical Christians prefers a centre party (22 per cent), a right-wing party (36 per cent) or an extreme right-wing party (4 per cent). Not more than 18 per cent said they voted for leftist or green parties. Dargent suspects that the preference for left parties is more prominent among traditional protestants – especially among reformed denominations.

Roman Catholics

The voting behaviour of active Roman Catholics is more unambiguous, Dargent says: most of them vote centre-right. According to him, there are no significant differences in the voting behaviour of practising Roman Catholics in large cities and the countryside.

The professor says that ultra-right candidates like Éric Zemmour or Marine Le Pen have no real attraction to church-attending Roman Catholics. "Their positions on issues concerning immigration are contrary to the Gospel", he says. Even though Zemmour favours a "Catholic France", according to Dargent, that is the same as "France in history. It is a reactionary position that has nothing to do with the church's faith."

Jews

Jews form a small minority in France. "It is hard to conduct a representative research among a small group like that", Dargent states. "Nevertheless, I suspect their political position is more oriented to the left side, like in the United States."

Muslims

The Muslim community traditionally voted for leftist parties. However, the Muslim view on ethical issues is closer to the (central-)right parties. However, that is not yet visible in their voting behaviour. "I think that problems like housing and discrimination carry more weight for Muslims", Dargent says. "However, it is possible that next generations will look at that differently."