As I look at the results of the "government" field I am quite surprised by the answers. On the Amercan poll, the government appears to be quite distant from the nation, the words conspiracy, and corruption appeared a few times, whereas in the French poll, the governement seems to be considered more on a institutionnal point of view. I think thus that the words don't really match. The "gouvernement Jospin" would be equivalent to the "Clinton Administration", that would explain why the answers are on two different level. But if we keep the results, there is still a gap in between the two different ways to perceive the "governement/government". In France the government is quite distant and do not appear to be close to the nation, whereas in the us the president or senators make themselves close to the people. I would have thought therefore that there is more trust in between the two. My question is: is that because the election system is not the same or is there something else ?

It's ture that the responses do seem to converge towards familiar on the french side and more distant on the us side, but the acctual governmetns tend to be more opposite. My explanation of this would have to lie in the american perceptions of the government. Although everyone over 18 has the right to vote and the relationships between the public and the officials appears to be close (and in some instances, ie the president, are very close........) in reality most of the public does not see it as such. That's why the voter turnout is very low, the overwhelming attitude is that no single person can make a difference so why bother at all. Becasue of this there is a natural distrust and dislike towards the officials, a belief that they are living in their own click, distant from the public and that there is no penetration into it.

but back to the question of voting, what is the french system like, and how effective is it?