President Emmanuel Macron would face conservative candidate Valerie Pecresse and defeat her in a runoff if elections were held now, according to a poll published Saturday, writes www.bloombergquint.com.

Support for Macron was at a field-leading 24% in the Ipsos Sopra Steria poll, followed by Pecresse of the Republicans at 16.5%. If replicated in the first round of voting in April, that outcome would send them to a runoff that that Macron would win by 53% to 47%, according to the survey for Le Parisien and France Info.

Macron, who hasn’t declared he’s running for a second term, fell by 2 percentage points compared with the previous poll a month ago. Far-right candidates Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour are neck-and-neck in third place on 14%. Le Pen led Zemmour by 5 percentage points in the previous poll and Pecresse by 1 point. The Feb. 1-3 poll of 1,535 adults has a margin of error of plus or minus approximately 2.5 to 3 points.

Bookmakers favor Macron to win re-election with a likelihood of 72.2%, up from 71.7% the previous week, according to data compiled by analysis platform Wettbasis on Jan. 31.

Source: www.bloombergquint.com