Marine Le Pen, French National Front (FN) political party candidate for French 2017 presidential election, smiles before voting in the second round of 2017 French presidential election at a polling station in Henin-Beaumont, France 7 May 2017;
Credit: Charles Platiau / Reuters
PARIS (Reuters) - France's veteran far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen is the second most-liked politician in the country, according to a poll on Thursday 31 March 2022 which came ten days ahead of the first round of voting.
According to the Elabe poll for Les Echos newspaper and Radio Classique, 35% of those polled said they had a "good image" of Ms Le Pen. In 2017, when she lost to Emmanuel Macron in the presidential election's runoff, the figure stood at 32%.
Ms Le Pen has overtaken former President Nicolas Sarkozy in the poll, who came in third with 33% of positive opinions. She still lags, however, former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who scored 44%.
The Elabe poll did not test the popularity of President Emmanuel Macron nor that of his Prime Minister Jean Castex.
In 2017, 46% of those polled by Elabe had a "very poor image" of Ms Le Pen, who is gearing up for her third presidential bid, against 34% now.
Ms Le Pen has softened her image since 2017, ditching unpopular plans to drop the euro, tweeting about her passion for cats and on one occasion taking selfies with a veiled Muslim girl.
Although polls showed President Macron received a boost in voting intentions after Russia waged war on Ukraine, he is now falling back as Ms Le Pen gains ground.
