They responded, especially to voters on the left. Polls showed that when the Rally National faced off against Macron’s allies and conservatives, seven in 10 leftists voted for the anti-Le Pen candidate, while most others abstained. When the left faced off against Le Pen’s party, the front did not fare much better: about half of Macron’s supporters backed the left, while one in six voted for the far right. But the result was clear: in every seat, the far-right’s strong position was not enough to overcome the combined numbers of its opponents.
The strength of this mobilization is especially remarkable given the conflicting messages from government officials. In the days after the first round, the presidential camp was divided between those calling for voters to vote for the anti-Le Pen candidate and those refusing to back the “Steady France” of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the most radical and leading figure on the left. Many on the center-right called on voters to stop both Mélenchon and Le Pen, softening the argument that the main issue was stopping the far right.
The New Popular Front is far from united. Mr. Mélenchon, who has no parliamentary seat, has a tumultuous relationship with the center-left Socialists, Greens and Communists, all of whom would prefer not to see him lead the party. On Sunday night, center-left figures in the camp suggested the need for broader dialogue and a change in political culture, and have already signaled a rapprochement with Mr. Macron and a split with the more radical left. The New Popular Front has little time to enjoy its successes and may soon start to fragment.
But the problem goes deeper than party squabbles. The far-right has been thwarted in France, as it has been before, but it has made great advances nonetheless. The party has historically underperformed in parliamentary elections because of its weak local base. In recent decades, it has had just a few MPs. Now it has 143 seats, its highest ever. And it will be fighting the 2027 presidential election from a much stronger starting point, including growing support among mainstream right-wing voters.
Its support is considerable: after years of strong support among blue-collar workers, the Rally National has almost doubled its support among white-collar workers, so-called mid-level professionals and top managers, since 2022. The party’s votes are still skewed toward lower-income and less-educated people, but it has grown fastest among those earning more than 3,000 euros a month. The party’s recent message, summed up by Bardella’s proposal to “restore public accounting and order in the streets,” has resonated with homeowners and middle-income earners. The party’s rise is not the result of a working-class revolt, as some have suggested, but rather support from a broad cross-section of French society.
