Marine Le Pen, last meeting in Perpignan

They were a few thousand to meet at the Perpignan exhibition center this Thursday evening. Three days before the first round, the candidate of the Rassemblement National, Marine Le Pen, sent the image of a unifying woman, at the height of her popularity. In recent weeks, the polls have shown real momentum. Two months before the election, Valérie Pécresse and Éric Zemmour were only 2 or 3 points behind her score according to our Ifop-Fiducial survey. A month before the first round, it was at 17.5% and was 14 points behind the outgoing president. In a historic stronghold of the far-right party, she preferred to choose a small number of supporters. The RN mayor of Perpignan, Louis Aliot, did not hide his great satisfaction with the evolution of his candidate during his introductory speech, referring to “the walls that tremble” at the Élysée Palace. At 24% in our latest poll, Marine Le Pen does much more than meet her usual electoral ceiling. He only lacks 2.5 points to catch Emmanuel Macron. In the room, the militants knew that this last meeting should send the image of a determined party and more than ever able to settle at the Elysée. A large majority of them were retirees, waving tricolor flags, wearing T-shirts with the slogan “Marine president”. The name Le Pen has never been presidential…

All the profiles were nevertheless present. The historical but also the new convinced of 2022. Vincent, 56, admitted to being behind the RN candidate forever. “For the 3rd consecutive election, I will vote Marine. She is the only one who understands us, the only one who can make France credible to us. The curves will be reversed because the detestation of Emmanuel Macron has won over a large part of the French” explains this activist. For Sylvie, 69, retired, she returned to politics thanks to Marine Le Pen. “In 2017, I didn’t like some of his proposals like leaving the European Union although I’m not a big fan of this body (sic). The problem today is that we can no longer live with our income, Macron is not interested in upgrading our purchasing power,” she accuses.

Purchasing power at the heart of his speech

If there is one theme that Marine Le Pen has worked on during this campaign, it is purchasing power. 57% of French people place this theme as the most important for this presidential election. A score far ahead of health (28%) and safety (24%). With Éric Zemmour fascinated by the debates on immigration in the fall, Marine Le Pen has refocused, even if it means losing some historical background from the National Front. After suffering from the Zemmour shadow, the candidate regained her colors during the war in Ukraine and then during the last weeks of the campaign. The context of inflation with the explosion in the prices of gasoline and certain food products gave water to his mill. Alignment of the planets or political flair? The candidate of the moment is her. But is added the height campaign of the outgoing president. Declared late, organizing a single meeting, speaking to very few journalists, Emmanuel Macron will not have been able to hold the image of head of the armies that he could have had at the end of February with the war in Ukraine.

Marine Le Pen has also taken advantage of the McKinsey scandal which has shaken the outgoing president. The presidential majority has so far failed to curb this negative dynamic. A case that gave Emmanuel Macron his image as president of the rich. In her meeting this Thursday, April 7, Marine Le Pen did not hesitate to add a layer. In particular, she implied that the outgoing president did not trust the large number of civil servants in the ministries who could help him govern without going through private firms. “Me, president, I will trust the civil servants and I will govern for France, for the French,” she declared in front of the conquered crowd. “In the presidential election we do not abstain, take back control!”, Chanted Marine Le Pen, asking her voters to “go vote” to beat the outgoing president, “boxer sounded”.

If it has always been beyond 15% in voting intentions thanks to its core of believers, the Zemmour candidacy has reshuffled the cards, as has Valérie Pécresse’s push after her victory at the LR congress. Without making noise or wave, Marine Le Pen has nevertheless avoided controversy. The departures of the RN towards Éric Zemmour almost had a positive effect on his campaign, hooking the compassion of some hesitant in the face of the “betrayals” which followed until the major rallying of his niece, Marion Maréchal, with Éric Zemmour. In Perpignan, these defections seemed a very distant memory.