Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

by Donna Rachel Edmunds23 Feb 20170

The BVA-Salesforce poll published Thursday gave Le Pen on 27 per cent of the vote in the first round of the election, due to take place on 23 April, up 2.5 percentage points from the last time the poll was conducted in early February.

A second poll by Harris International showed similar results placing Le Pen on 25 percent, four points clear of Francois Fillon (Les Republicains) and five ahead of Emmanuel Macron, an independent who split from the Socialist party last August.

Both polls were conducted at the start of the week, before Wednesday evening’s announcement by veteran centrist Francois Bayrou that he would be dropping out of the race to lend support to Macron, a move which analysts say could give the independent candidate the edge over his rival Fillon.

Rolling poll results for the French Presidential election, first round. Ifop-Fiducial.

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/02/23/le-pen-extends-lead-in-french-presidential-polls/