National rally surges ahead as Macron's support wanes in polls
The far-right National Rally of Marine Le Pen is leading in the pre-election polls in France. According to a survey by the Ifop Centre, it could garner over 30 per cent of the votes.
34 per cent of respondents declared that they would vote in the parliamentary elections on 30 June for National Rally, which has recently received support from Eric Ciotti, head of the right-wing Republican party.
29 percent of respondents intend to vote for the New Popular Front – a broad alliance of socialists, communists, Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s followers, and Greens.
The political camp of French President Emmanuel Macron (his party Renaissance, along with allies) was chosen by 22 percent of the survey participants.
Macron’s party is the only one losing support
The survey was conducted by the Ifop centre for the newspaper "Le Figaro," LCI television, and Sud radio. "Le Figaro" assesses the results as a very strong shift towards nationalism. The 34 percent support for the National Rally (RN) represents a 15 percentage point increase compared to the parliamentary elections in 2022.
In the previous elections, left-wing parties, then forming a coalition called NUPES, received 25.6 percent of the votes. The presidential camp received 25.7 percent of the votes at that time and is currently the only political force losing support.
Nevertheless, this result is better than in the European Parliament elections, when about 15 percent of voters voted for the list of President Macron’s party.
The first round of early parliamentary elections will be held in France on 30 June, and the second round on 7 July.
