Emmanuel Macron still remains the favourite to win the French Presidential race, according to the latest poll released over the weekend.
Running as an independent centrist, the former Economy Minister is likely to win the first round of voting with 26.5 percent.
“For Macron the stakes are incredibly high,” said the director of polling at Ifop, Jerome Fourquet.
“He’s the front-runner and his centrist positioning means he will be attacked from both sides. Most French don’t know him well at this stage and they’ll be looking closely at his ability to take punches.”
These polls come just before the first televised debate, where all five candidates will go head to head on live television. Much newer to politics than some of his rivals, Macron has never had any practice in television debates.
Polls show that Macron will lead the way after the first round of voting, but with just half a percent lead over National Front leader Marine Le Pen.
“Macron represents no breach with the old order, no hope for change,” Le Pen said at a rally in Saint Raphael on March 15.
“He’s a sort of caricature of everything we oppose. The choices he wants to make for the French are not the right ones.”
Macron runs opposed to Le Pen on many issues and the race is a tight one.
On immigration, Macron has praised Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door refugee policy that “saved our collective dignity” and has promised to welcome refugees that are in need of protection. This runs contrast to Le Pen’s pledge to introduce a quota to cut immigration by 80 percent.
Regarding security and defence, Macron and Le Pen have both pledged to increase the defence budget to three percent of the GDP. Le Pen has more controversially raised plans to create greater ties between France and Russia.
French voters will go the polls on April 23 and May 7 in the two-round election.