ABSTRACT
A month and a half before the French referendum, the polls were heading straight downhill for the Yes camp. The commercial, pro-government TV Channel TF1 hastily pulled together a cross-section of “representative young people” to question Jacques Chirac, bringing out their biggest gun in hopes of shooting down the opposition. The young people were concerned about lousy jobs, casual jobs, or no jobs; affordable housing; the lamentable state of the universities; and other unimportant, mundane matters. The President explained to them that if they voted No, France would become the black sheep of Europe. They looked unconvinced; so was the TV audience.
