French polling institute Ipsos BVA has omitted three major left-wing political parties from an online survey due to errors made while adapting an international questionnaire for France.
The error was highlighted after a participant posted a screenshot of an Ipsos iSay survey on social media, showing that La France Insoumise, Les Écologistes, and the Parti Communiste were missing from the list of political choices. The respondent was forced to select the option marked other and manually type in her political party, prompting her to ask online whether the survey was somewhat biased.
The questionnaire asked respondents which political party they identified with in general. While it included major French political groups such as the far-right Rassemblement National, the centre-left Parti Socialiste, and the centre-right Les Républicains, the three missing left-wing parties were entirely absent. Together, La France Insoumise, Les Écologistes, and the Parti Communiste account for nearly 22 percent of voting intentions, according to the latest poll by Harris Interactive-Toluna.
Outdated Party Labels
The survey also contained outdated political terminology. It listed En Marche !, the political movement founded by French President Emmanuel Macron. That party was renamed La République en Marche in 2017 and subsequently rebranded as Renaissance in 2022. Despite the obsolete party name, legal notices at the bottom of the screenshot confirmed that the questionnaire was active in 2026.
The questionnaire was hosted on Ipsos iSay, an online platform operated by the polling company where users answer surveys to earn points. Participants can convert those points into rewards such as gift cards or online shopping credits.
Following a direct complaint by email, Ipsos BVA informed the participant that it could not modify a survey while it was currently running. However, the polling company assured her that her comments would be incorporated into future surveys to better represent public opinion.
International Adaptation Errors
In a statement to French news outlet 20 Minutes, Ipsos BVA explained that the questionnaire was part of a broader international study conducted on behalf of a private corporate client across several countries. The institute stated that the omission of the three left-wing parties and the misnaming of the macronist party occurred during the process of adapting international questions for French respondents.
Ipsos BVA emphasized that the poll was not commissioned by any news media organization, political party, or election candidate. The firm confirmed that the survey will not be published or used to generate political voting estimates.
According to the institute, the main objective of the question was to measure broad partisan preference across simple categories such as left, center, right, or far-right, rather than specific party membership. Ipsos BVA added that political orientation was merely a secondary demographic indicator used to cross-reference responses to non-political topics.
French Political Context
The incident comes as French political organizations prepare for the 2027 presidential election, a period during which opinion polling comes under heightened public and media scrutiny. Political polling in France is strictly regulated, and methodology errors frequently ignite debate over public representation.
La France Insoumise is a prominent left-wing party founded by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, while Les Écologistes serves as the country's primary green political party, and the Parti Communiste represents traditional communist voters. Ipsos BVA is a leading international market research and polling company headquartered in Paris, France.
Ipsos BVA stated that the wording of the online questionnaire has since been updated to correct the errors. However, news outlet 20 Minutes reported that it was unable to locate the revised questionnaire on the Ipsos iSay platform.
