France: 66% of left-wing voters expected to abstain in second round, poll says

Most activists registered by far-left French candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon will abstain or leave their ballots blank in the presidential runoff between incumbent President Emmanuel Macron and far-right challenger Marine Le Pen, an internal poll has shown.

Macron, a pro-European Union centrist, won the presidency in 2017 after beating Le Pen easily as voters joined him in the second round to keep his far-right party out of power.

The initial vote set up the same duel in the second round, but Macron is facing a much tougher challenge, with both sides desperate to woo those who backed Melenchon, who came third in the April 10 first round with around 22% of votes.

Melenchon urged his supporters not to vote for Le Pen, but he did not come to defend Macron and said his party would hold a public consultation to help guide those who supported him.

According to results published on Sunday, of the roughly 215,000 people who took part in the poll, more than 66% said they would abstain, leave their ballot blank or spoil it. Just over 33% said they would vote for Macron. The option to vote for Le Pen was not given to respondents.

“The results are not an order to vote for anyone, everyone will conclude from this and vote as they see fit,” Melenchon’s campaign team wrote on its website.

With the electorate fragmented and indecisive, the election is likely to be won by the candidate who can go beyond their field to convince voters that the other option would be much worse.

For decades, a “republican front” of voters of all stripes supporting a popular candidate helped keep the far right out of power. But Macron, whose sometimes abrasive style and policies that veered to the right have unnerved many voters, can no longer automatically count on that support.

Another poll, by the IPSOS-Sopra-Steria institute, released on Saturday (16), showed that around 33% of Melenchon voters would support Macron, with 16% supporting Le Pen on April 24. More than 50% of the people questioned refused to give their opinion.