The first round of the presidential elections will take place in France next Sunday. Of the twelve candidates, however, only two have a real chance: will Emmanuel Macron remain in power, or should he pass the scepter to the far-right Marine Le Pen? After all, the latter does every poll a little better. The difference between the two candidates is currently barely between 1 and 2.5 percent.
Macron and his party La République en Marche (LREM) will win 26.5 percent of the vote on Sunday, according to the ongoing poll by IFOP-Fiducial. Marine Le Pen (Rassemblement National (RN)) is close behind with 24 percent. Earlier this week, Macron took 27 percent and Le Pen 23 percent.
52 percent of respondents say they will vote for Macron in a second round – in which Macron and Le Pen will face each other. However, the poll’s margin of error has been calculated at 1.4 to 3.1 percent, so it cannot be ruled out that Macron will still bite the dust and let Le Pen go first.
In a poll commissioned by the French newspaper Le Figaro, Le Pen is only one percent behind Macron (39 percent) with 38 percent of the vote.
cat breeder
Since her election defeat in 2017, Le Pen has worked hard to improve her image and profile herself as a more moderate politician. During the lockdown, the chairwoman of the far-right party Rassemblement National also obtained her certificate as a professional cat breeder and she didn’t miss a chance to be photographed as an animal lover.
The fact that Eric Zemmour is competing this year with a candidate who is even more radically right-wing than Le Pen and who presents himself as a seasoned xenophobia makes the RN candidate seem less extreme and further increases her cuddly factor.
Migration
However, the Rassemblement National still advocates a tough approach to migrants. Le Pen wants to end benefits for foreigners, end family reunification, give priority to the French for jobs and social housing, ban the headscarf in public spaces and kick out unemployed foreigners. “Being French should give you more rights than being a foreigner,” she said earlier this week.
In her election campaign, however, Le Pen this year focuses mainly on purchasing power, one of the main concerns of the French population. Meanwhile, she also benefits from Macron’s focus in recent months on mediation in the Ukraine-Russia conflict. After all, this theme is too far removed from the daily worries of the French.
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