Why Marine Le Pen is under pressure before the debate against Emmanuel Macron

This is the event of this between-two rounds. Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen will face each other in a televised debate this Wednesday evening. The National Rally candidate is banking on this show, which is generally followed by millions of viewers, to catch up in the polls. But after the 2017 fiasco, the MP for Pas-de-Calais is under pressure, a few days before the second round of the presidential election.

Make people forget the debacle of 2017

Five years ago, she had completely missed the exercise, multiplying approximations and invectives. Marine Le Pen had herself admitted having “missed an appointment with the French”, claiming fatigue and poor preparation. To avoid a new tragedy, the candidate of the National Rally therefore went green for two days to floor. But at the party, we try to calm things down. “It’s an important moment, which many French people are waiting for. But there is no particular pressure, there is only the media to talk about what happened in 2017…”, annoys Gilles Pennelle, part of the RN. “Five years have passed, that’s a long time. We have worked on our project and Mr. Macron has since had a terrible record, which he did not have five years ago, ”he swears.

A way to pick up in the polls

However, this Wednesday’s meeting is crucial. If Marine Le Pen is to make people forget the failed debate of 2017, she also hopes to fill the 6 to 12 points that separate her from Emmanuel Macron in the opinion polls. “In 2017, his catastrophic performance made him lose the battle for credibility, especially on economic subjects. It had dropped by more than five points in our survey, ”recalls Frédéric Dabi, general director of opinion at the Ifop institute.

Lately, the entourage of Marine Le Pen says that the latter has learned the lessons of 2017, and will be much better prepared for this return match. “The candidate is now leading the race in surveys on proximity to the French or purchasing power, but she is still losing the battle for expertise and credibility. If the debate between the two rounds never reverses the trend, it is of fundamental importance, for her, on the presidential stature”, specifies Frédéric Dabi.

A trickier in-between-tower campaign

This debate comes in a more complicated context than in recent months for the person concerned. “The candidacy of Eric Zemmour, who, in a way, protected her, has disappeared. The campaign for the second round is not the same, its program is more scrutinized and attacked. She must explain herself on certain controversial points, such as the death penalty, ”adds the pollster. On Friday, the candidate thus deemed a referendum on this subject “unconstitutional”, contradicting her own statements made twenty-four hours earlier. In a few days, the RN candidate also seems to have turned around on the banning of the Islamic veil in public space, yet present in her program, returning this question to parliamentary debates.

A way to water down certain controversial points before the debate against Emmanuel Macron? “Our program is not watered down but certain details deserve debate in the Assembly, sweeps away Gilles Pennelle. The French already have good reasons to vote for us. This is why we want a project against project debate on Wednesday evening, and not the anathemas launched by Mr Macron in recent days. “Tuesday morning, on France InterPrime Minister Jean Castex estimated that the program “of Madame Le Pen changed every day”, attacking the credibility of a candidate who “never governed anything”.