Marine Le Pen, the conservative party leader, is now the second most popular political figure in France, with a steadily growing positive perception among voters, the French ViaVoice Institute found in its latest survey, published on Tuesday, September 5th.
Overall, 37% of French people describe the National Rally (RN) leader in positive terms, which is second only to Le Havre Mayor and former PM Edouard Philippe.
This represents a solid ten-point increase since November 2021 and a four-point jump in the last three months. In addition, 29% of respondents also said that their perception of Le Pen has evolved positively in recent months.
Furthermore, Le Pen’s Rassemblement National (RN) came out as the absolute winner of the survey in terms of voter confidence, as 20% of respondents believed it would perform well in certain issues on average, followed by Macron’s liberal Renaissance (15%), the leftist coalition NUPES (14%), and the smaller conservative Les Républicains (13%).
As expected, the RN received the highest credibility score in relation to immigration (50%) but also performed well regarding security, purchasing power, education, and employment.
Looking at the detailed breakdown of the personal qualities associated with Le Pen, the three-time presidential candidate still appears to be a controversial figure. While 60% of respondents think she’s “courageous,” roughly the same amount (58%) see her as “radical.” Similarly, 43% believe Le Pen is a “competent” leader, while 48% do not find her “reassuring” enough.
The poll also showed that the mainstream media’s ‘far-right’ branding of Le Pen is losing traction. Now, only 21% are worried about “far-right ideas” in politics and the media, with 32% having little-to-no such concern. A third of the French people think that those traditionally branded ‘far-right’ are less dangerous than before, and 26% are advocating giving them more place in public discussions.
In reference to the RN’s chances in the 2027 presidential elections, Adrien Broche, the head of political research at ViaVoice, noted that “the prospect of a Marine Le Pen victory is becoming less and less of a political utopia.”
More than one in two French people think that a Le Pen presidency would be good for “France’s cultural identity,” while a similar number of parents said it would be good news for the future of their children. Overall, 43% of the respondents said they “could” vote for her in the future.
According to Broche, these results show that Le Pen has broken free of the negative labels put on her by mainstream media and establishment parties. She now only needs to prove her capabilities to win over the majority. Broche noted:
The battle for respectability has been won, and the battle for credibility seems to be well underway. It’s on the substance of the issues that the battle will be fought, and its outcome will depend as much on Marine Le Pen’s voice as on those of her opponents.
