Incumbent French President Emmanuel Macron is up for re-election this April, although the final election results depend on who will be his opponent in the second round. Such conclusions are contained in a public opinion poll conducted by the international research company Ipsos among 12.4 thousand French adults from December 14 to 17, 2021, TASS reports.

With 25% of the vote, Emmanuel Macron continues to lead the race. Based on his base, he managed to maintain the commitment of 2/3 of the voters who voted for him in 2017, as well as win the sympathy of a significant part (29%) of those who voted for François Fillon in 2017. With a lead of nearly 10 points now over his closest rivals, [Republican candidate] Valerie Pecresse and [National Rally candidate] Marine Le Pen can count on 15.5% of the vote each, the study says.

Compared to the poll published after the announcement of the candidacy of Pekress (17%), she has somewhat lost support, while Le Pen, on the contrary, continues to restore the electoral base, now 58% (+3 percentage points) of those who are ready to vote for her supported her in the 2017 elections.

The closest pursuer of Le Pen and Pecresse in the current presidential race - the far-right politician and publicist Eric Zemmour - has lost a little sympathy for the French and is now in fourth place in the virtual rating with 13% of potential votes. However, it should be noted that this poll was conducted before it became known about the transfer of two representatives of the Le Pen party to his Reconquista party: Jerome Rivière, head of the French delegation in the right-wing faction of the European Parliament “Identity and Democracy”, and MEP Gilbert Collard.