Poll Shows France’s Le Pen Gaining Support

Marine Le Pen, the far-right nationalist leader, has gained more support in her campaign to become the next president of France.

On Monday a poll showed her ahead of the other two major candidates. They are the centrist Emmanuel Macron and conservative Francois Fillon. But Le Pen could still lose the final May 7^th election to either candidate.

The Paris-based political research group Opinionway operated the study of French citizens' opinions. The group asked people who they planned to vote for out of the five total candidates. If no candidate wins a majority of the votes on April 23, the two candidates with the most votes face each other again in May.

The poll shows Le Pen winning 27 percent of the first vote; more than any other candidate, but not a majority. She would then likely face either Macron or Fillon in the next round.

But against either candidate in May, Le Pen would likely lose. Macron would win 58 percent of the vote against her 42 percent. Fillon would win 56 percent to her 44.

French investors are concerned with news of Le Pen's lead in the poll. She has suggested France stop using the currency called the Euro and calls for a vote on leaving the European Union. She also suggested putting greater taxes on imported goods and contracts of foreign workers.

I'm Pete Musto.

Simon Carraud, Yann Le Guerigou and Richard Balmforth reported this story for the Reuters news service. Pete Musto adapted it for VOA Learning English. Hai Do was the editor. We want to hear from you. Who do you think will become the next president of France? Why do you think that? Write to us in the Comments Section or on testbig.com.

Words in This Story

far-right – adj. having or supporting ideas and policies that are associated with conservative groups

nationalist – n. a supporter of or believer in a feeling that people have of being loyal to and proud of their country often with the belief that it is better and more important than other countries

poll – n. an activity in which several or many people are asked a question or a series of questions in order to get information about what most people think about something

centrist – n. a person whose political opinions are not extreme, falling between those of liberals and conservatives

conservative – adj. believing in the value of established and traditional practices in politics and society

currency – n. the money that a country uses