Polls suggest Macron as next French President

The independent candidate Emmanuel Macron is set to become the next French Prime Minister, according to polls. Mr. Macron has been the biggest beneficiary of the payment scandal that erupted a few months ago and took down the front-runner Francois Fillon, who was the favorite to become the president. Polls continue to show that Mr. Fillon’s popularity is on the dive after news broke out that he allegedly paid his children and wife millions from the state fund for fake jobs.

However, Mr. Macron is likely to lose the first round of the election as the dreaded National Front Leader Marine Le Pen further solidified her lead. She is set to win at least 26 percent of the votes in the first round compared to Macron’s 19.5 percent.

In the French presidency, if one candidate fails to attend 50 percent mark in the first round, it goes to second, where the top two fights it out. Polls show that Ms. Le Pen will lose the second round to Macron with 62-38 percent margin.

One note of caution: Don’t blindly trust any poll numbers because 2016 has already given us Brexit and Trump, which were hardly caught in polls.