An Ifop survey has discovered that nearly two-thirds of French people, or 61 per cent, believe that Islam is “incompatible with the values of French society”.

The results are an eight per cent increase compared to a previous study released in February of last year and reflect growing concerns of the impact of religion in public life against France’s traditional secularist stance, according to the study, Le Journal du Dimanche reports.

Between the left and right of the political spectrum, there is disagreement on the subject of Islam. More than half — 54 per cent — of the supporters of the far-left France Insoumise (Unbowed France) party saying that Muslim worship had a place in France, compared to 85 per cent of the supporters of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally who argued the opposite.

Frédéric Dabi, deputy director-general of Ifop, said that “the definition of secularism seems to be changing” noting an increase for the support of separation of religion and politics as the main issue compared to a 2005 poll in which equality of religion was the main topic of which Frenchmen were concerned.

Revealed: Islamist Infiltration of French Public Services https://t.co/Y1NmsLrclx — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 21, 2019

Most of the focus of the new concerns revolve around the influence of Islamisation, with those surveyed advocating for the banning of religious symbols in many aspects of public life. Seventy-five per cent said they would agree on a religious symbols ban for users of public services and 72 per cent backed a ban for employees of private companies, with those on the right favouring the bans the most.

A total of 61 per cent of French people say they would support alternative meals to pork for school meals, but among Le Pen supporters, the number drops to 44 per cent.

Le Pen’s National Rally also scored highest in the poll when it came to the question of which party was best suited to face the challenges of Islamisation, with 37 per cent supporting the populist party compared to just 20 per cent for French President Emmanuel Macron and his party, La République En Marche! (LREM/Republic on the Move).

The confidence in Le Pen to tackle the issue comes after her party defeated LREM in the European Parliament elections in May.

Majority of French Say Le Pen Would Do Better than Macron on Migration https://t.co/LoqKVmsjgd — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) February 9, 2019

Le Pen called on Macron to resign after the May vote. She said fresh national elections “should happen immediately because of yesterday’s results, but mostly because of Macron’s posture during the election where he was not the warrantor of the constitution, but he became an active player in one of the parties”.

The National Rally leader has also fared better than Macron in polling on migration issues. A poll released in February suggested that French voters had more faith in Le Pen to tackle mass migration issues than they had in the sitting French president.