A poll has revealed that as much as 60 per cent of the French police support populist National Rally (RN) leader Marine Le Pen for president ahead of next year’s presidential elections.
The data, which was part of a survey published by the Centre for Political Research of Sciences Po (Cevipof), reveals that in the first round of the presidential election, a plurality of 44 per cent of police and soldiers would vote for Ms Le Pen.
In a second-round run-off vote against current French President Emmanuel Macron, the amount of support from the military and the police rises to 60 per cent, according to the figures, which were first published by the newspaper L’Opinion.
The figures are a slight increase for Le Pen from her second-place finish in the 2017 presidential election, in which she scored 57 per cent of the vote from the military and police.
Almost Half of French Would Support Military Intervention to Restore Order https://t.co/2RCFe8PfhR
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 1, 2021
When broken down by active and retired police officers, the difference is stark. While 51 per cent of retired police say they would vote for Le Pen, 74 per cent of active-duty police say they support the National Rally leader.
Around half the police, 48 per cent, say they have a positive view of Le Pen and say she “understands the problems of people like us”, compared to just 13 per cent who say the same of President Macron. Forty-two per cent also state that Le Pen would do a better job than the current French president.
Attacks on police and urban violence across France have become major issues in recent weeks, with the publishing of letters from former military generals and alleged active-duty military calling on the government to do more to guarantee law and order and warning of potential civil war.
French Military and Police Increasingly Supporting Right-Populist Marine Le Pen https://t.co/xSoSfXadqQ
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 17, 2019
A report released by the newspaper Le Figaro this week details the extent of attacks on police as they carry out their duties, claiming that last year alone 8,719 police officers and gendarmes were injured and 11 officers killed.
In the first three months of 2021, the newspaper states that 727 officers have been injured during operations, and notes that an officer is assaulted on duty every hour in France, on average.
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