Poll shows French far-right leader Marine Le Pen widening lead ahead of 2027 presidential vote

A new Toluna-Harris survey for French radio RTL and French television channel M6 published Monday showed that Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN) party was set to win around 35 to 36 percent in the first round of voting for France's presidential elections on April 18, 2027, up from 33 percent in an earlier poll published on September 14.

In the second round on May 2, she would easily beat hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, if he made the run-off, and also polls well ahead of centre-right candidate Édouard Philippe, who was seen winning 13 percent to 16 percent, not enough to reach the run-off.

Le Pen's anti-immigration party emerged as the single largest party in the National Assembly after Macron called snap polls in 2024, though it fell well short of a majority.

The French daily Le Monde described recent Senate elections that saw the RN be able to form a parliamentary group for first time as a "warning", adding the polls showed "the extent to which the RN has established itself within our institutions in barely ten years".

"The far-right breakthrough was expected, and the result does not alter the Senate majority ... Yet a new threshold has been crossed," it added.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)