As I was recently following up on news about les Gilets jaunes I stumbled across a great resource for anyone interested in understanding what les français pensent (the French think) on any number of different topics.

Qu’en pensez vous? / What do you think?

There’s no better way to know what someone is thinking then to ask them. That’s just what IFOP (Institut d’Études Opinion et Marketing en France et à l’International / Institute for the Study of Opinion and Marketing in France and Internationally) has done for over 80 years.

IFOP mène des enquêtes auprès des populations représentatives (conducts surveys of representative groups) to understand what le français moyen (the average French person) thinks about topics ranging from les actualités, la politique, la société, et le climat social (current events, politics, society, and social attitudes).

Recent findings include the fact that for another year in a row the singer Jean-Jacques Goldman est la personnalité préférée* des Français (is the favorite celebrity of the French), that (as of mid-February after 14 weekends of protests) 50% of French people still support les Gilets jaunes, 74% des Français pensent que les consommateurs peuvent avoir confiance dans les agriculteurs (74% of French people think that consumers can have confidence in farmers/growers), and that while 84% of French prefer un pain au chocolat regionally others still prefer their chocolatine.

* Notice that the word personnalité is feminine even when it is referring (as it does here) to a male celebrity.

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