France at Turning Point as Poll Shows Nationalist Candidate Taking the Lead in Presidential Face-Off

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Nationalist and populist movements are making great strides across Europe — even in France, where the once-thought-powerless right-wing National Rally party is surging in the polls.

While the next presidential election in France is still three years away, a new poll shows National Rally’s Marine Le Pen is leading and could win the 2027 race.

What makes the survey interesting is that it marks the first time any such poll has found the populist party candidate in the lead, according to Europe’s Remix.

The poll conducted by the Institut Français d’Opinion Publique found Le Pen favored over sitting Prime Minister Gabriel Attal in a second round of voting, 51 percent to 49 percent.

At 34, Attal is the youngest man and the first openly gay politician to be prime minister. He is a member of French President Emmanuel Macron’s left-wing Renaissance Party and previously was the minister of national education and youth.

The survey by IFOP — a public polling and market research firm based in Paris — also found Le Pen would tie, at 50 percent each, Horizons Party leader Édouard Philippe, the current mayor of Le Havre and himself a former prime minister.

In addition, the National Rally leader was far ahead of Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the left-wing La France Insoumise party with 64 percent.

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