Demonstration against the pension reform in Rennes in January 2020 (illustration) -
Mathieu Pattier / SIPA
The 18-30 year olds are sensitive to the challenges of the fight against discrimination and police violence but do not reject this institution as a whole, points out the latest barometer #MoiJeune
20 Minutes
- OpinionWay, which we reveal this Friday.
If 79% of young adults consider that police violence is a reality and 48% that the institution is "racist", two-thirds of twenty-year-olds refuse to stigmatize all the agents.
The measures of the “comprehensive security” bill are particularly unpopular, and the idea that it is dangerous to demonstrate is widespread.
A few weeks after the Michel Zecler affair, what is the perception of the police among young adults?
This is the question to which the latest #MoiJeune
20 Minutes
-OpinionWay
barometer
, published this Friday *, tries to answer.
And the photograph delivered by this investigation turns out to be subtle.
“There is a real capacity for nuance among young people.
Police abuses are not considered as a whole, ”summarizes Eléonore Quarré, research director at OpinionWay.
Yes, police violence is "a reality in France", and officials who commit a fault "are often covered by their hierarchy", answer 79% of 18-30 years.
But the idea that all police officers should be put in the same bag remains a minority.
Above all, she has not progressed with the blows to the music producer under the eye of a CCTV camera on November 21.
Not all police are in the same bag
Thus, 65% of adults aged 18 to 30 refuse to “stigmatize the entire profession”, considering that “only a tiny part of the police and gendarmes” are responsible for police violence.
Conversely, 35% of young people believe that "the system gives too many freedoms to police officers who abuse it".
A result almost unchanged from the #MoiJeune barometer carried out last June, a few days after the death of George Flyod in the United States and the return of the debate on police violence in France **.
"The Michel Zecler affair made it impossible to deny certain abuses within a larger part of the population but, on the analysis of the police as such, the observation has not changed", points Theo Ponchel , researcher in the "opinion and politics" department at OpinionWay.
“The institutional discourse is based on the idea that certain police officers and gendarmes sometimes get out of hand, but that it is not the global system that produces violence.
This approach is shared by the young people questioned, ”notes Anne Wuilleumier, doctor of political science and researcher at Inhesj (National Institute for Higher Studies and Security and Justice), where she works in particular on relations between young people and the police.
“But this discourse is questioned by a significant part of the respondents.
"
A majority confidence but "quite low"
As such, the expert underlines the plebiscite in favor of “everything that refers to the fight against discrimination” and to the “legitimacy” of the police.
There is massive support for the reform of the IGPN (92%), the establishment of a national platform for reporting discrimination, as proposed by Emmanuel Macron (86%) or the generalization of pedestrian cameras. (80%).
Another point raised by Anne Wuilleumier: if 11% of twenties have "very confidence" and 42% "rather confidence" in the police, this majority is slim.
“A confidence level of 53% is pretty low.
And, even if there is no total breakdown of trust between young people and the police, this figure is not very reassuring, ”notes the researcher.
Sociological work has shown that it is "difficult to work" from "a third party of opposition within the public, whatever the field concerned", underlines the researcher.
The “racist” police for 48% of young people
For Théo Ponchel, “we are at a time when, in the general population, the image of the police has deteriorated, but this degradation of public opinion should not be exaggerated.
Confidence in the police remains fairly high.
In the general population, the confidence rating has dropped by 10 points to 65%, OpinionWay showed in December 2020 ***.
On the issue of racism, 48% of 18-30 year olds believe that “the police are racist”, against 40% of the general population.
"Youth is particularly critical, pushes the cursor a little further, but there is no complete divide with the general population", comments Theo Ponchel.
The barometer shows, however, that young adults believe that the police treat the French differently depending on "their skin color" (81%), their home (79%) or their age (67%).
The tough young people with the “global security” law
What about the proposed law on "global security"?
"The most controversial measures of the text do not achieve consensus among young respondents," observes Anne Wuilleumier.
“The authorization for the police to use drones equipped with cameras” appeals to less than half of the twenty-something (49%), as well as “the ban on broadcasting images allowing the identification of a police officer or a gendarme in operation with comments inciting hatred "(45%) and" the authorization for the police to carry their weapon in a place open to the public outside their working hours "(24%) .
The demonstrations against the proposed law seem in any case to have marked the minds of young people.
While only a third of 18-30 year-olds confide that they have ever “felt concern” for their safety in the presence of law enforcement, this feeling of worry most often arose during a demonstration.
“The big point of tension is the demonstrations.
The feeling that it is becoming dangerous to go and demonstrate is shared among some of the young people, ”emphasizes Théo Ponchel.
“The question of equipping the police comes up a lot.
These are things that we know well in sociology: the behavior, the attitude, the gestures of the police have an effect on the citizens, who may feel confidence or, on the contrary, worry.
"
*
#MoiJeune 20 Minutes - OpinionWay study conducted online from December 11 to 15, 2020 with a representative sample of 627 young people aged 18 to 30 (quota method).
** #MoiJeune 20 Minutes-OpinionWay study carried out online on June 19, 2020 with 761 people representing 18-30 year olds (quota method).
*** “OpinionEye” survey by OpinionWay, 1,004 people interviewed online by OpinionWay on December 2 and 3, 2020 (quota method).
If you are between 18 and 30 years old, you can participate in the “#MoiJeune” project, a series of surveys launched by
20 Minutes
and built with and for young people.
All the information to register online here.
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