Support for same-sex marriages in France has fallen by 5 percent to 58 percent in the last year, a poll published in Paris indicated.

The results were published in Le Parisien/Aujourd'hui en France Saturday, in the run-up to Wednesday's Cabinet vote on a bill to legalize same-sex marriages, Radio France International reported.

"...However, only months later [French PM] Hollande and his allies are on the defensive against a surprisingly broad groundswell of opposition to his plans, led by André Vingt-Trois, the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris.

Vingt-Trois, as well as Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim leaders, have vociferously expressed their opposition to the proposed measure, and have been joined by conservative politicians and pro-life activists, who staged an attention-grabbing protest on October 23. Larger protests are scheduled for the 17th and 18th of this month.

The result has been a dramatic shift in public opinion, which polls had consistently shown to favor homosexual “marriage” and adoption.  According to a recent poll by IFOP commissioned by Le Figaro magazine, opposition to homosexual adoption has increased by ten percentage points in just one month, resulting in a majority of 52% opposed.  In apparent response to the outcry, the socialists have delayed a debate on the bill until next year." -- LifeSiteNews

A plan to legalize same-sex marriage and allow gay couples to adopt was a liberal cornerstone of Francois Hollande's election manifesto earlier this year. It looked like a shoo-in for the French President, supported by a majority of the country, and an easy way to break with his conservative predecessor. But that was then.

Now, as the Socialist government prepares to unveil its draft "marriage for everyone" law Wednesday, polls show wavering support for the idea and for the president himself amid increasingly vocal opposition in this majority Catholic country.

And it's not just religious and rural leaders speaking out; top figures within Hollande's own party also are at loggerheads over the plan. The Socialists are now dragging their feet, releasing the bill later than planned and delaying parliamentary debate on it until January.

The political hot potato has exposed divisions between urban France, where homosexuality is widely accepted, and the rural heartland, where conservative attitudes hold sway.

And PinkNews adds more details:

"...Polls show a majority of French voters support marriage equality, but it has divided the country’s left and right, with lawmakers from the conservative UMP denouncing the measure.

“It’s the end of the family, the end of children’s development, the end of education. It’s an enormous danger to the nation,” UMP Senator Serge Dassault said on the radio show France Culture on Wednesday."