A recent poll shows an erosion of Marine Le Pen's image among the French, especially RN sympathizers, who prefer Jordan Bardella for the 2027 presidency. Despite her 2025 conviction, RN ideas are gaining ground in public opinion, splitting France evenly between concerns and enthusiasm. The party retains its momentum amid judicial troubles.
The annual barometer by Verian for Le Monde and L’Hémicycle, conducted online from January 1 to 5, 2026, with 1,511 respondents, highlights a degradation in Marine Le Pen's image. Ahead of her appeal trial for the Front National parliamentary assistants case, which could bar her from the 2027 presidential election, the French believe 30-year-old Jordan Bardella offers better election chances and would make a superior head of state than his mentor, who has led the RN for fifteen years.
Le Pen's personal traits, such as “honest” or “sympathetic and warm,” remain stable and are mainly endorsed by her supporters, despite her first-instance conviction at the end of March 2025. However, her political qualities have declined: 55% of French people see her as able to “take the right decisions” (–12 points from 2025), 50% for “understanding the daily problems of the French” (–6 points), and 39% for “uniting beyond her camp” (–11 points, back to 2022 levels).
Paradoxically, the RN and its ideas are advancing in public opinion, especially on the right. The 2024 legislative elections had raised doubts about its governing ability, but these have faded. “Everything seems to slide off the RN, including the judicial episodes that have tarnished Marine Le Pen’s image but not the party’s momentum, even among right-wing sympathizers,” says Eddy Vautrin-Dumaine, Verian’s director of studies. “It’s no longer a vote of anger but of solutions.” France is evenly split: half worries about the far-right’s rise, the other half embraces its proposed solutions.
This survey, conducted for forty-one years, now uses online collection, providing a long-term view of perceptions of the far-right party.
