The latest polls indicate that Macron will win the runoff this Sunday, but some have shown a narrowing in the gap with Le Pen. An Elabe poll released Tuesday showed Macron winning the second round with 59 percent of support against 41 percent given to Le Pen.
Looking at polls released by Ifop-Fiducial, voting intentions for Macron have dropped from 60.5 percent on April 25 to 59.50 percent on May 2.
Macron is expected to gather most of the votes from the previous contestants, including the socialist Benoit Hamon. However, it is important to take into account that voters from the far left won’t necessarily support Macron, after the far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, who placed fourth in the first round, refused to support him.
“A number of left-wing figures have expressed scepticism towards Macron’s policies on election night, providing only a lukewarm endorsement of the former economy minister,” Antonio Barroso, deputy director of research at Teneo Intelligence, said after the first round of the presidential vote.
Furthermore, right-wing voters, who opted for the conservative candidate Francois Fillon could choose Le Pen if their main concern is immigration and, another key factor, is the possibility of a third event, such as a terrorist attack or financial scandal, he added. Fillon started the election as the frontrunner but fell to third place after investigations into the misuse of public funds.
Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook.
Source
