14
RICE UNIVERSITY STUDIES
Gaullist candidates in the first ballot against a wide field of opponents in the
legislative elections of 1958, 1962, and 1967 respectively.01 Some of the
relevant social characteristics of both electorates will be summarized.
Although survey data regarding the legislative elections of November,
1958, suggested that younger voters — especially those in their thirties —
tended to be slightly more attracted to the UNR than their elders,'2 later
studies clearly indicate that in recent years both the restricted Gaullist
electorate and the extended electorate (as shown in Table 2) have in-
TABLE 2
Age of Gaullist Voters
|
21-34 |
AGE GROUP_______ | ||||
|
35-49 |
50-64 |
65 and | |||
|
Referendum, |
Yes: |
43% |
42% |
49% |
56% |
|
October, 1962* |
No: |
28% |
33% |
29% |
24% |
|
2nd Ballot, |
for de Gaulle: |
49% |
55% |
55% |
65% |
|
December, 1965** |
for Mitterand: |
51% |
45% |
45% |
35% |
•From a joint FNSP and IFOP national survey, reported in Guy Michelct, “Attitudes et
comportements politiques à l’automne 1962,” Elections 1962, p. 207. Totals of “blanc, nul,”
“n’a pas voté,” and “sans réponse” ranged fι∙>m 29 per ent for the yoμnge.*t to 20 percent for the
oldest category.
••From a national IFOP poll regarding voce intentions, conducted December 14-16, 1965, on the
eve of the second ballot of December 17, 1965. Reported in Sondages, No. 4 (1965), special issue
entitled, “L’Election présidentielle de décembre 1965,” p. 36.
eluded a disproportionate number of older people. The restricted electorate,
however, is more balanced than the extended electorate, perhaps because
some older voters are willing to vote for de Gaulle personally, but are re-
luctant to break a longstanding identification with a non-Gaullist party.
According to a national survey of voting intentions in the first ballot of
the November, 1962, elections, the UNR got almost its full share of votes
from voters 21-34 years of age (28% to 31% in the total sample), and only
slightly more than its share of voters age 65 and over (20% to 15%).β3
A more striking characteristic of the Gaullist electorate is its large pro-
portion of women. In the legislative elections of 1958 and 1962, the UNR
apparently drew two percent more votes from women than from men,
despite the fact that abstention from voting was almost twice as frequent
among women as among men.04 De Gaulle’s 62 percent victory over the
cartel des nons in the referendum of October, 1962, was due in large
measure to feminine support, since national survey data indicate that women
voted “yes” in a proportion of 50 percent to 20 percent (with the remainder
staying at home, or being unwilling to divulge their vote), while among men
de Gaulle won only some 42 percent “yes” votes to 38 percent “no”
votes.05 Again in the presidential election of 1965, 61 percent of those