Emmanuel Macron | Sean Gallup/Getty Images Macron ahead of Le Pen in French election’s first round: poll Buoyed by a string of endorsements, Macron gained six points in the last two weeks.

Centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron has overtaken his far-right rival Marine Le Pen in the race for the French presidency, according to a poll published Thursday.

Macron is slated to win the vote's first round in April with 26 percent of the vote, 1 percentage point ahead of Le Pen who would come in at 25 percent, a latest Harris Interactive poll, which surveyed 4,932 people between March 6 and 8, showed. Embattled conservative candidate François Fillon would be eliminated, with 20 percent of the vote.

Macron's popularity has risen significantly over the past two weeks, his 6-point jump partly attributable to the support of veteran politician François Bayrou. Former Socialist Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë also publicly endorsed Macron this week.

“We must give support to the candidate who can beat Marine Le Pen,” Delanoë said.

Macron's immediate rivals Le Pen and Fillon have both been racked by "fake jobs" scandals.

Fillon was put under formal investigation earlier this month for employing his wife and children for parliamentary work they may not have done.

A recent rally in Paris may yet signal a comeback for Fillon, while Le Pen's ratings have been stable, despite an ongoing investigation over misused EU funds, the poll found.

Despite Le Pen's popularity in the first round vote, the Harris Interactive poll predicted Macron would beat Le Pen by 30 percentage points in the second round, with 65 percent of the vote compared to 35 percent for Le Pen.