Poll: People in France very attached to local public services
Almost four in 10 would support paying more tax to ensure services remain well-funded
French residents want better-resourced, accessible local services that go beyond digital platforms
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The majority of people in France are ‘very attached’ to their local public services, with almost four in ten saying they would support the return of taxe d’habitation to maintain them, says a new poll on French people and local public services.
The findings, published on February 9 from an OpinionWay poll* conducted for Casden (Caisse d’aide sociale de l’Éducation nationale – a cooperative bank specifically for education, research, and culture professionals) and think tanks Le Sens du service public and the Jean-Jaurès Foundation, showed that 39% would support the return of the taxe d’habitation following its abolition for primary residences in 2023.
High satisfaction
The poll found:
74% of those asked said they were satisfied with the quality of services in their local municipality
73% feel that local public services lack the resources to meet the needs of the population
68% think that public services and their employees are undervalued
The 39% who stated they would support the reinstatement of the taxe d’habitation, said they would do so on the condition that it “enables the improvement of local public services”.
The Macron government began the phase-out of the taxe d’habitation for owners of main residences in 2018, finally getting rid of it completely in 2023. Yet, even among supporters of the Presidential party, 38% would support the tax’s reinstatement if it went towards local services.
The tax previously brought in a €20 billion revenue stream for the government.
The results of the new poll “paint a resolutely positive picture for the future” of local public services, and “the confidence expressed encourages optimism”, said Johan Theuret, co-founder of the Le Sens du service, to Le Monde.
It comes after another poll in July 2025 found that local mayors are a strong “figure of trust” for many people in France, and help to create a sense of unity in what can otherwise feel like a "fragmented" democracy, said the political research centre le Centre de Recherches Politiques de Sciences Po (Cevipof), at the time.
Mr Theuret added that the poll’s results “run counter to a number of prejudices in our public debate”, and contradict the idea that “civil servant bashing” is popular.
The human touch
The poll also helped to inform the debate around what public services must do to encourage and maintain this public perception and high level of services, said Émilie Agnoux, an expert associated with the Jean-Jaurès Foundation and co-founder of Le Sens du service public.
She said that people in France rightly have “high expectations” for the state, including when it comes to security and health, but that they want, “above all”:
One way of doing this is to bring public services together in one place, and open more local service points and counters as a “priority”, she said.
As increased digitisation shifts many public service processes online, it was notable that just 21% of those polled said that the “development of digital administrative procedures” should be a major priority.
Many still prefer to talk to and/or see a human when completing public processes or using public services, said Ms Agnoux.
“Relationships and the quality of contact are just as important as efficiency, and are even a prerequisite for effective public action,” the authors of the study concluded.
This dovetails with the findings of the Défenseure des Droits, Claire Hédon, who said in 2022 that the “digitisation of services is not good for everyone” and “makes life harder for many”, even as it “simplifies things for some”.
Political differences
People’s political leanings may affect how they perceive their public services, however.
The poll showed that right-wingers who support the Rassemblement National feel a “more marked dissatisfaction” with local services, are less likely to feel that the services are “effective”, and feel that they have more difficulties in accessing local service benefits.
“This is the result of the narrative that ‘public services benefit certain sections of the population more than others’, [which] has unfortunately been promoted by the far right for several years,” said Ms Agnoux.
*Poll conducted online by OpinionWay among a sample of 2,000 people representative of the population. The poll was conducted to explore people’s perceptions and expectations in the run-up to the municipal elections, which are set to take place on March 15 and 22.
