With French national elections approaching in 2027, the mass riots seen in Paris following the PSG victory in the Champions League are leading to an even sharper electoral shift towards the right-leaning National Rally’s Jordan Bardella.
Verian’s June barometer, published by Le Figaro Magazine, places Jordan Bardella at the top of political figures, with 47 percent of those questioned wanting to see him occupy an important place in public life.
This rating, up six points in one month, reveals a record result for the National Rally.
Marine Le Pen comes in second position and is also progressing. Several other personalities located on the right are also rising in the ranking, including Marion Maréchal, Éric Ciotti and Robert Ménard.
The riots in Paris left stores and cars burned out and resulted in 890 arrests, 180 officers injured, and two deaths. The apocalyptic videos from the riots also sent shockwaves through the French public.
While these polls cannot predict the election, they underline data showing that Bardella or Le Pen are well positioned to win the presidency in 2027 elections.
Other recent polls also show that Bardella would win a runoff against a range of candidates. A poll from a week ago from Odoxa showed Bardella beating former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe 52 to 48 percent. Other potential candidates, such as the far-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon, were also beaten by wide margins, with polling showing Bardella nearly 50 points ahead of him, at 74 percent to 26 percent, illustrating the France’s distate for Mélenchon’s politics.
Politico ran a piece three days ago entitled “Brussels’ nightmare scenario,” which predicted that a Bardella-Mélenchon matchup is a real possibility and would be viewed as catastrophic by the EU elite, as both candidates have a highly skeptical view of the European Union.
“That prospect of stopping Bardella has hit a major potential hurdle, however, as momentum builds behind the campaign of the firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left France Unbowed party. The latest polls suggest he now has a strong chance of qualifying for the second-round showdown — depriving the race of a centrist who could rally voters against the far right in the EU’s No. 2 economy.”
The paper also quoted, Gérald Darmanin, the justice minister under President Emmanuel Macron. He said he now believes Mélenchon will be the main challenger to the “far right.”
“You have … to be wearing blinkers not to see it,” he said.