Why do French voters vote the way they do? In this book, leading international scholars examine this question from many different angles. Special attention is given to the 2002 national elections, when right-wing extremist Le Pen made such a spectacular showing in the presidential contest. Was the first-ballot success of Le Pen based on issues of law and order, ethnicity, nationalism or on the economy? What about the role of the traditional factors of social class, region, religion and left-right ideology? Do the peculiar electoral institutions of the Fifth Republic foster political extremism, or act as a break on it? The French Voter considers these issues both in relation to the 2002 contest and past elections.

Topical as it deals with the most recent presidential and legislative elections in France in which the far right took a large share of the vote

Preface Introduction: French Election Theories and the 2002 Results; M.S.Lewis-Beck France's 2002 Presidential Elections: Old and New Territorial Fractures; A.Laurent Do Issues Matter? Law and Order in the 2002 French Presidential Election; N.Mayer & V.Tiberj Ideology and Party Identification: A Normalization of French Voting Anchors?; J.Evans Old Wine in New Bottles? New Wine in Old Bottles? Class, Religion and Vote in the French Electorate; B.Cautrès Strategic Voting in the 2002 French Presidential Elections; A.Blais Institutions and Voters: Structuring Electoral Choice; R.Elgie Could There Possibly Have Been Economic Voting?; G.Whitten Dual Governance and Economic Voting: France and the United States; M.S.Lewis-Beck & R.Nadeau Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Electoral Dilemmas and Turnout in the 2002 French Legislative Elections; T.Gschwend & D.Leuffen Forecasting the 2002 Elections: Lessons From a Political Economy Model; B.Jérôme & V.Jérôme-Speziari Vote Functions in France and the 2002 Election Forecast; E.Dubois & C.Fauvelle-Aymar National Economic Voting in France: Objective vs. Subjective Measures; E.Bélanger & M.S.Lewis-Beck