Two months ahead of the municipal and intercommunal elections in March 2026, Ifop for Intercommunalité de France has published the second part of its study on intercommunal elections. The survey was carried out by online self-administered questionnaire from January 6 to 7, 2026, among a nationally representative sample of 2,000 people aged 18 and over.
The survey reveals a desire for a pragmatic and transparent intercommunal executive: almost one French person in two (45%) would like to see their intercommunal authority’s policy based on compromise after the elections, and the fact that the president of their intercommunal authority does not have a political label is judged much more positively (44%) than negatively (17%).
The outgoing team’s track record at intercommunal level plays a decisive role for one in two voters (50%), but this study also shows that the intercommunal ballot is still poorly understood by the French, who would like to see these elections under the seal of democratization and transparency. Indeed, almost 9 out of 10 French people (88%) believe that candidates for the presidency of an intercommunal body should declare themselves before the ballot, and 85% of French people would like to see intercommunal councillors elected by direct universal suffrage in municipalities with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants.
