Le Pen takes lead over nearest rival in new French presidential election poll

The far-right leader had 29 per cent of the vote when pitted against Les Républicains’ Nicolas Sarkozy, who was eight points behind, and held a 15-point lead over the Parti de Gauche’s Jean-Luc Mélenchon in the poll released by Ipsos, which analysed five scenarios with different frontrunners.

While Les Républicains’ Alain Juppe remains strong favourite to become succeed Francois Hollande, the results are likely to add to growing fears that the rise of global populism could see Ms Le Pen on course to clinch the French presidential win, in the wake of the UK’s Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s victory in the US election.