A majority of French believe populist National Rally leader Marine Le Pen would do a better job on migration issues than President Emmanuel Macron, a poll has revealed.
The poll, which was taken by Elabe and released on Wednesday, asked participants whether they thought Ms Le Pen or President Macron would do better on key issues, BFMTV reports.
54 percent of French believe Le Pen would do a much better job in terms of tackling illegal migration and other issues relating to migration. Le Pen also scored 52 percent from respondents on tackling crime and delinquency.
The results come after Macron declared earlier this week at a town hall in the suburbs of Essonne that “We are living in a world of mass migration,” adding: “I do not believe at all in the people who would build walls, because walls do not work.”
Le Pen narrowly lost to Macron on the topic of terrorism in the survey with 48 percent believing the populist leader would do a better job while 51 percent said she would not.
The populist scored the lowest in comparison to Macron on environmental issues at 27 percent and struggled to find support on economic issues such as taxes and employment.
The National Rally and Macron’s La République En Marche! (Republic on the Move/LREM) are both seen as contenders to place first in the May European Parliament elections. In terms of popularity, a recent YouGov poll showed Macron and Le Pen nearly neck and neck at 21 and 20 percent respectively.
Le Pen, who is a supporter of the Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vest) movement, has also been building alliances with other populists across Europe ahead of the EU elections, including populist Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, with the pair declaring the formation of a “freedom front” last year at a meeting in Rome.
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