One, they have a long record of saying one thing and doing another. Rhetoric does not match socialist principles. It's an afflication of much of the "respectable" Euro left. It would surprise many outside observers to learn that Jospin privatised far more than Sarkozy has. This is a disconnect which matters to more and more on the left.

Second, there is no outreach in the PS to speak of to the left. It's this reason which has caused a split off to the left, with former PS Senator Mélenchon starting the Parti de Gauche which is, for the Europeans, not cooperating with the PS, but the PCF and hopefully NPA and LO as well for upcoming Europeans. The PS should be bending over backward to work towards a proper front de gauche, and this includes humility, but we don't see this happening, they don't show up, it is as if they believe the left is theirs by default even though they haven't actually delivered anything t working people in years.  

Third, and this undergirds the entire problem for the PS: it's voters are tacking left, when PS party cadres' imaginations are more captured by Modem or Modem-style prescriptions which, quite frankly, are not as forward-thinking as they believe. This is a product of training in the PS universities, no doubt, where soft centre-leftism has held sway since the early 1990's.

I don't actually blame the left though. I blame the PS. Big difference.    

Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant