MOSCOW, May 2. /TASS/. Most Russians (61%) sympathize with right-wing French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, a survey carried out by the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion showed on Tuesday.
Eleven candidates ran for president in the first round of France’s presidential election on April 23. Founder of the En Marche! (On the Move) movement Emmanuel Macron, who received 24.01% of the vote, and Le Pen, who secured 21.30% of the vote, will face each other in the runoff on May 7.
Among the candidates, Le Pen was the most recognized politician in Russia - some 71% of respondents know her, the pollster said. Former French Prime Minister Francois Fillon and Macron come second - every second Russian has heard of them.
"Russians sympathize with Le Pen, some 61% of those polled back her, while only 8% went for Macron," the survey indicated.
According to the survey, 57% of the respondents are sure that the outcome of French presidential race will be significant for Russia. One-third of Russians (35%) say the results won’t be important.
"France’s presidential election has drawn significant attention from Russians. This is linked to both the significance of the country, deep bilateral ties, and also to the twists and turns the election campaign has been taking. Moreover, it has been in the spotlight of journalists and political analysts throughout the globe. But as far as we are concerned, the most vital issue is what policy towards Russia will the next French president carry out. In this context, the overwhelming majority of Russian respondents’ sympathies lie with Marine Le Pen, which is becoming clear given that she explicitly calls for overcoming the current conflict between Moscow and the West, and normalizing ties with Russia," the pollster’s director general, Valery Fyodorov, said.
The poll was carried out on April 25-26, 2017 based on phone interviews with 1,200 Russians over 18 years of age. The maximum margin of error with a probability of 95% does not exceed 3.5%.