Le Pen has masterminded the Front National’s rise to the mainstream (Picture: Getty Images)

The leader of France’s far-right Front National is leading in a new poll on 2017’s presidential candidates.

Since taking over from her father, FN founder Jean-Marie, Marine Le Pen has waged political war on established candidates and masterminded her party’s rise to the mainstream, which included a stunning 20% vote in the 2012 presidential election.

And the former lawyer has beaten competition from incumbent Francois Hollande, former President Nicolas Sarkozy and other potential candidates to the top spot in the recent survey, which was published in magazine Marianne.

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Rising fears of fundamentalist Islam may have given a boost to the far-right party (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)

‘If the first ballot took place today, she [Le Pen] would receive between 29 and 31 percent of the vote, depending on her opponents,’ it read.



Nicolas Sarkozy would come second, while François Hollande – whose approval rates have been low throughout his term – would not make it through to the next round.

It is unclear what effect the Paris terror attacks had on the poll, but Le Pen and her party – who have promised for a long time to curb immigration and been critical of Islam – wasted no time in reminding the French public that they had ‘warned of the danger of Muslim fundamentalism’.

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