Marine Le Pen could defeat President Macron at next year’s elections if she capitalises on contempt for him among left-wing voters, a leading think tank has suggested.
There is a growing consensus in the political world that a far-right victory is no longer unthinkable if the contest moves to a run-off between the pair, as it did in 2017.
Le Pen, 52, has succeeded in detoxifying her image enough to attract mainstream conservative voters among whom she is viewed as preferable to Macron despite her “disastrous” performance in the final stages of the last campaign, according to the Jean-Jaurès Foundation, which is close to the centre-left Socialist party.
Left-wing voters, meanwhile, see Macron, 43, as arrogant and elitist. Half of them said they would abstain
