France had the bleakest assessment of its national economy among 18 high-income countries in a spring survey: 85% of French adults said economic conditions were bad, including about four in 10 who called them very bad. The findings measure public opinion, not economic output or the causes of France's financial problems.
The Pew Research Center analysis was published Friday as France faced protests in which participants cited underfunded, overcrowded schools and the country grappled with a debt crisis. Pew surveyed 1,006 adults in France from Feb. 9 to April 17, 2026, months before the recent demonstrations; the poll should not be read as a measurement of protesters' views.
Negative ratings have grown since 2022, Pew said. The share of French adults describing the economy as bad is now about as high as it was in summer 2020, a few months into the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis compares France with 17 other high-income countries surveyed this year, but does not say that economic conditions in France were objectively worse than in each of those countries.
Pessimism spans age groups
The survey found negative views across demographic groups. Adults ages 18 to 34 and adults 50 and older were about equally likely to call the economy bad, countering any assumption that the negative assessment was confined to young people.
French adults without education beyond secondary school were slightly more negative than those with postsecondary education. Pew said that education gap has narrowed since 2022. The summary did not provide percentages for the two education groups, so the size of the remaining difference should not be overstated.
Political views show a wider gap
Economic ratings were negative across the political spectrum but especially so among adults on the ideological right: 91% in that group said the economy was bad. Among French adults with a favorable view of Marine Le Pen's right-wing National Rally party, 92% gave a negative rating, including 58% who said conditions were very bad.
Those subgroup figures describe surveyed adults with particular political views, not the views of all French adults. Pew's published international survey methodology notes that sampling uncertainty is larger for subgroups than for a country's full sample. The 2026 survey was designed to represent France's adult population; its findings cannot be projected onto New York residents or used to measure their assessment of the U.S. economy.
Pew has tracked economic views internationally for more than two decades. Its latest France results show how broadly pessimism was distributed at the time of the spring interviews, while leaving open how public opinion may have changed during the later protests.
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