FREE now and never miss the top politics stories again. SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Sign up fornow and never miss the top politics stories again. We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

Some 24 per cent of French voters aged 18 to 24 questioned said they would be voting for the hardline candidate in the first round of the election, which is to be held on April 23.

GETTY Voters aged between 18 to 24 said they will be voting for Marine Le Pen to win the election in April

Centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron, who served as economy minister under outgoing president François Hollande, however, has also won over French youths, and is just as popular as his hard-right rival - with 24 per cent of voters also saying they wanted him to become president.

GETTY Emmanuel Macron also had 24 per cent of voters who were in favour of him becoming president

he poll, carried out by Harris Interactive for French radio station RTL, found young voters have not given up on the left yet – with 19 per cent of those interviewed wanting far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon to win the presidency. Another 14 per cent said they were rooting for hard-leftist Benoît Hamon, the Socialist party’s official candidate.

GETTY 19 per cent of young voters would like to see Jean-Luc Mélenchon win the election

But, with more than 20 per cent of voting intentions each, both Mrs Le Pen and Mr Macron have a lead over the two radical left-wingers in polls, who are both limping to the finish line.

Things you didn't know about Marine Le Pen Fri, May 5, 2017 Marine Le Pen is a French politician who is the president of the National Front, a national-conservative political party in France and one of its main political forces. Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 10 Described as more democratic and republican than her nationalist father, she has led a movement of "de-demonization of the Front National" to detoxify it and soften its image

And only 10 per cent of voters aged 18 to 24, however, said they would be casting their electoral vote for centre-right candidate François Fillon, who is scrambling to patch up his scandal-hit campaign following claims that his wife was paid hundreds of thousands of euros for a bogus job as his parliamentary assistant.





GETTY François Fillon was a less popular choice amongst the voters with a backing of just 10 per cent