French backing for strikes and demonstrations against President Emmanuel Macron’s already enacted pension reform has declined, according to a poll published Thursday.
The number of respondents who said they support the protests has fallen 10 percentage points to 38%, while the portion who say they sympathize has gained five points to 19%, according to the Ifop survey for Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper. The combined total has dropped from 62% in mid-April to 57%.
The poll was conducted ahead of a new round of strikes and demonstrations on June 6. Labor unions have vowed to keep up pressure on Macron as a group of centrist opposition lawmakers has been pushing for a new bill to try and reverse the reform. The pension overhaul, which was signed into law in April, raises the minimum retirement age to 64 from 62.
Ifop polled 1,020 adults online on May 30-31. The margin of error ranged from 1.4 to 3.1 percentage points.
