Survey o' the day
Yes, it is another French one. Only over there do newspapers think it worth forking out the readies to pollsters to find out what the Plain People of France think about the chances of Les Bleus qualifying for the World Cup. And hurrah, there's demographic detail.
Anyway, the big one - 63% think they can beat our Hibernian neighbours. Having checked my favourite bookmaker, France are 6/4 and the RoI 9/4. So, there is a fairly pessimistic 23%, plus 14 don't knows / don't cares. (Given the odious fix that FIFA cooked up in seeding countries, I am a bit torn between our two neighbours, as the Irish have been shafted, but then again my Gallic connections are stronger).
However, onwards:
25-29 year olds are the most optimistic at 78%, with the next age cohort up (30-39) the gloomiest - 35% think France will stuff it. Roughly speaking, the higher the respondent's level of ediucation, the more pessimistic they are. As to politics, it is the Trots who /believe/ - 81%. Gaullists take the opposite approach - 25% think that Irish eyes will be smiling. But the really odd bit is the geographical breakdown, based on some spectacularly misshapen, ill-named and ahistoric regions used by pollsters. Which look like this:
The South East and South West regions have 70% thinking France can do it, compared to 48% in the Western Paris Basin. I told you the names were hateful, didn't I?. WPB could also be described as the regions of Normandy and Centre. Maine/Touraine is my preference for the latter. Elsewhere, 20% of those in the West don't know / don't care, compared to 5% in Gtr Paris.
Anyway, the big one - 63% think they can beat our Hibernian neighbours. Having checked my favourite bookmaker, France are 6/4 and the RoI 9/4. So, there is a fairly pessimistic 23%, plus 14 don't knows / don't cares. (Given the odious fix that FIFA cooked up in seeding countries, I am a bit torn between our two neighbours, as the Irish have been shafted, but then again my Gallic connections are stronger).
However, onwards:
25-29 year olds are the most optimistic at 78%, with the next age cohort up (30-39) the gloomiest - 35% think France will stuff it. Roughly speaking, the higher the respondent's level of ediucation, the more pessimistic they are. As to politics, it is the Trots who /believe/ - 81%. Gaullists take the opposite approach - 25% think that Irish eyes will be smiling. But the really odd bit is the geographical breakdown, based on some spectacularly misshapen, ill-named and ahistoric regions used by pollsters. Which look like this:
The South East and South West regions have 70% thinking France can do it, compared to 48% in the Western Paris Basin. I told you the names were hateful, didn't I?. WPB could also be described as the regions of Normandy and Centre. Maine/Touraine is my preference for the latter. Elsewhere, 20% of those in the West don't know / don't care, compared to 5% in Gtr Paris.
Labels: France, this sporting life
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on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 3:13 pm.
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