If France votes as expected for Emmanuel Macron on Sunday, it will have elected the youngest President in its history. The En Marche! candidate’s youthful appeal might be working for the some 62 per cent of the electorate – but it has not been enough to convince France’s traditionally left-wing students.

As campaigning drew to a close on Friday before Saturday’s complete shutdown on election activity, final polls suggest Marine Le Pen has failed to make a dent in the commanding 20-point poll lead enjoyed by Mr Macron since the first round vote.

Despite the pollsters’ confidence, groups that were expected to rally together against the perceived threat of the far-right Front National remain divided and disillusioned by the two candidates remaining in the head-to-head.

Nowhere is this sentiment more evident than with young voters in Paris. On Thursday night, anti-Le Pen activists braved the rain to organise a political pop concert in the Place de la République. Their message to the youth of France was not “Vote Macron”, but rather just get out and vote – against Ms Le Pen.

Among the hundreds who attended, a group of far-left supporters said they backed the organising charity SOS Racisme’s anti-Front National message, but would not bring themselves to vote for Mr Macron.

Anti-racist NGOs held a concert in protest against Front National (AFP/Getty) (AFP/Getty Images)

Dominique Sopo, the charity’s president, said it was voters’ “responsibility” to actively oppose Ms Le Pen. “We have to crush the Front National,” he said. “The far-right in our country is the only party to be founded on hatred of the other and hatred of democracy. This 40 per cent of support [for them] is bringing back verbal and physical violence in France.

“Everyone needs to go and vote on 7 May to ensure that Ms Le Pen makes the smallest possible score.”

Before the first round vote, the surge in the polls for populist far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon was a cause for optimism at Paris’s Sorbonne University. His popularity was part of a growing trend of polarisation in French politics, with a survey published by the Bertelsmann Foundation on Friday showing one in five French voters self-identify as politically “extreme”, one of the highest rates in Europe.

Dominique Sopo said it falls on the voters to actively oppose Marine Le Pen (Chloe Farand)

After a slow start, more than half of Mr Mélenchon’s former backers say they will back Mr Macron on Sunday – but their key motive remains blocking the far-right from the presidency.

In front of the social sciences annexe of the Sorbonne, in Paris’ 13th arrondissement, anti-Front National posters cover the brick walls. This branch of the university is especially known for its left-leaning tendencies and here neither Ms Le Pen nor Mr Macron were the preferred candidate in the first round.

One of the posters outside the 1960s building shows Ms Le Pen daubed with a Hitler moustache. On another, a picture of Mr Macron accompanies the quote: “Let’s strip the poor of their money”. Alongside him, Ms Le Pen appears to reply: “… and let’s blame foreigners for it”.

French Presidential Election Show all 20 1 /20 French Presidential Election French Presidential Election Voters line up to cast their ballots REUTERS French Presidential Election French expats queue along the street outside the Lycee Francais Charles de Gaulle to cast their vote in a polling station inside the school, in the first round of the 2017 French presidential election, in London, Britain April 23, 2017. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor - RTS13JM5 REUTERS French Presidential Election People line up to vote in the first round of 2017 French presidential election at a polling station in Vaulx-en-Velin near Lyon, France, April 23, 2017. REUTERS/Emmanuel Foudrot - RTS13HSP REUTERS French Presidential Election Police patrol polling stations in France REUTERS French Presidential Election Francois Fillon (L), member of the Republicans political party and 2017 French presidential election candidate of the French centre-right, casts his vote in the first round of 2017 French presidential election in Paris, France, April 23, 2017. REUTERS/Christophe Archambault/Pool - RTS13IH0 REUTERS French Presidential Election Benoit Hamon (C), French Socialist party 2017 presidential candidate, is surrounded by photographers as he leaves a polling station after voting in the first round of 2017 French presidential election in Trappes, near Paris, France, April 23, 2017. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler - RTS13I0Y REUTERS French Presidential Election French President Francois Hollande collects voting slips before casting his ballot in the first round of the 2017 French presidential election at a polling station in Tulle, France, on April 23, 2017. REUTERS/Georges Gobet/Pool - RTS13ITO REUTERS French Presidential Election A policeman walks by election posters near a polling station during the first round of 2017 French presidential election in Paris, France, April 23, 2017. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann - RTS13I3A REUTERS French Presidential Election Emmanuel Macron and wife Brigitte Trogneux REUTERS French Presidential Election Emmanuel Macron casts his ballot REUTERS French Presidential Election Emmanuel Macron, head of the political movement En Marche !, or Onwards !, and candidate for the 2017 French presidential election, waves hand during in the first round of 2017 French presidential election at a polling station in Le Touquet, northern France, April 23, 2017. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier - RTS13ICH SAA/ French Presidential Election Jean-Luc Melenchon, candidate of the French far-left Parti de Gauche and candidate for the French 2017 presidential election, leaves a polling booth in the first round of 2017 French presidential election at a polling station in Paris, France, April 23, 2017. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe - RTS13IKB REUTERS French Presidential Election Front National leader Marine Le Pen casts her ballot Marine Le Pen (L), French National Front (FN) political party leader and candidate for French 2017 presidential election, casts her ballot in the first round of 2017 French presidential election at a polling station in Henin-Beaumont, northern France, April 23, 2017. At R, Mayor of Henin-Beaumont Steeve Briois. REUTERS/Charles Platiau - RTS13IEI REUTERS French Presidential Election Early ballots are read as results continue to come in Reuters French Presidential Election Macron supporters react as results come in early in the evening AP French Presidential Election Supporters of Front National leader Marine Le Pen cheer as early results come in Reuters French Presidential Election Alamy Live News. J21KYW Paris, France. 23rd April 2017. Marcon supporters wave French and EU flags after the announcement that he is the leader in the exit polls after the polling stations have been closed. Supporters of Emmanuel Macron, the Presidential candidate from the social liberal political party En Marche! celebrate the exit polls, that see him in first place, ahead of Marine Le Pen from the Front National in the first round of the French Presidential election. Credit: Michael Debets/Alamy Live News This is an Alamy Live News image and may not be part of your current Alamy deal . If you are unsure, please contact our sales team to check. Alamy French Presidential Election Front National leader Marine Le Pen takes to the stage to address her supporters as fans cheer Reuters French Presidential Election Emmanuel Macron greets supporters on Sunday night AP French Presidential Election Emmanuel Macron and wife Brigitte Trogneux celebrate the incoming results EPA

It is their stances on Europe that will be decisive on Sunday, though, more than any other policy. Mr Macron is strongly pro-EU, while Ms Le Pen has vowed to hold a referendum on “Frexit”, France’s departure from the bloc.

Second year art history student Clara told The Independent: “He [Mr Macron] is not crazy and he doesn’t want to get us out of Europe, so that’s good enough for me.”

Eva Mandengue, who studies history and political science, agrees: “Europe is the first, most important thing for me. I did not vote to support Mr Macron in the first round but we have to bar Ms Le Pen from winning.”

The EU – albeit reformed – was a “very important” factor for history student Gregoire Mathieu, making a Le Pen victory “intolerable”. “If I was sure that she was not going to win I would spoil my ballot, but because I’m not that certain I will probably vote for Mr Macron,” he said. “We wanted to see change. Mr Macron is supposed to personify that change, but I’m not convinced.”

The biggest campaign set piece between the two rounds remains the head-to-head debate that took place on Wednesday night. With the dust settled from what French commentators described as a chaotic spectacle, it now seems clear that it gave the centrist candidate a boost – one which could prove decisive.

A survey published in L’Express on Friday shows Mr Macron won three points over his rival, bringing him to 62 per cent of voting intentions against 38 per cent for Ms Le Pen. Only 30 per cent of respondents felt Ms Le Pen had the necessary qualities to be France’s next president, versus 61 per cent for Mr Macron.

Marine Le Pen campaign posters have been vandalised with Nazi graffiti (Chloe Farand)

While many at the Sorbonne supported far-left Mr Mélenchon, a vocal faction of the university also backed more extreme left-leaning groups, such as the candidate for the New Anti-Capitalist Party, Philippe Poutou.

A trade-unionist and a worker in a car factory, Mr Poutou received 1.09 per cent of the votes in the first round of the election nationwide and refused to back either candidate in the second round.

On campus, it isn’t hard to find an affiliate to an anti-capitalist or anarchist group. “I’m not going to vote,” a geography student who preferred not to be named told The Independent. “I identify as an anarchist and I am opposed to representative democracy.”

The Paris school district reported on Friday that 10 high schools were completely or partially blocked by student protesters, who said they were opposing both presidential candidates.

Students at the Lycée Buffon wrote an open letter to French voters asking them to choose “democracy” on Sunday and fight against the Front National. Yet the letter did not explicitly mention supporting Mr Macron.

It said: “Dear reader, you should know that Marine Le Pen’s France is not the France we love. Our France is beautiful, tolerant and cosmopolitan. So go and vote on Sunday, for this France, this democracy.”

And in the right-leaning law university of Pantheon Assas in the sixth arrondissement, a number of students rejected the idea of voting for Mr Macron by default.

Sarah, an activist for conservative François Fillon’s party Les Républicains, decided to go against the instructions of her own defeated candidate and spoil her ballot on Sunday.

“I don’t want to support a politic that will be the continuity of what we just had with the current government for five years. I also don’t think it would be strategic to rally to Mr Macron ahead of the local election,” she said.

Greenpeace hang protest banner from the Eiffel Tower two days before French election

Her friend Alexandre disagreed, and offered some rare positive words about the centrist. “I am one of those who will vote for French values,” he said. Describing himself as “a convinced European federalist”, he said Mr Macron’s policies on the EU were what made him sign up to his movement. “Mr Macron’s appeal is the renewal of French politics and the end partisan parties, which have been shown to be outdated.”

Where there are supporters of the far-right among Paris’s students, they keep to the shadows. The law university has a reputation as a bastion for even more extreme right-wing groups, such as the Union of Patriotic Students (UEP). And one student, who did not want to be named, said the toilets were covered with graffiti and stickers from the GUD, an extreme right-wing group famous for its violent action in the 1970s. Former GUD member Frédéric Chatillon is today a major Front National donor.