troglodyte_mignon

Some examples of this phenomenon in French are “un ombril” -> “un nombril” (a navel, from the latin umbilicus) and “l’ierre” -> “le lierre” (the ivy, from the latin hedera).

I’m under the impression that mistakes like it’s/its tend to be more common among native speakers than among people who learn the language as teenagers/grown-ups. I might be wrong, though, it’s not like I have any data on the subject.

If it’s the 6th Republic and new constitution stuff that make you think of populism, it’s not really the case. The current French constitution was more or less imposed by De Gaulle in very specific circumstances (the political crisis caused by the Algerian independance war). A number of people (among which Mélenchon) think it gives way too much power to the president and that we should go back to a more parliamentary system.