This 39-year-old former banker has never held public office and has emerged as France's last, best, and perhaps only chance of staving off Le Pen to emerge as president in May. "She is shameless trying to exploit fear and emotion to exclusively political ends".
According to the latest opinion polls, centrist Emmanuel Macrn, the far-right's Marine Le Pen, the right's Francois Fillon and far-left Jean-Luc Melenchon are the closest to making it to the second round.
Marine Le Pen, the far-right National Front candidate, has been explicit in her message: that the political establishment has not done enough to counter Islamist extremism.
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"The narrowing of the polls and the historical error in actual voting relative to polls makes any of the six outcomes involving the four major candidates possible", strategists at Deutsche Bank said in a note.
There was no obvious reaction to the shooting of a French policeman in central Paris overnight, an attack claimed by Islamic State, the euro climbing around 0.2 per cent by 0834 GMT to $1.0734.
"There's a tendency among French voters that they are not voting for someone, but against someone". "Enough of laxism, enough of naivety", Le Pen said.
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He added "I have enjoyed a good season, so hopefully I can go a step further at the Crucible this year". "He's a predator. And even if he's not having a wonderful day he's still so unsafe , he's still competing all the time".
But other attacks that took place shortly before elections - the November 2015 attacks in Paris ahead of regional elections and the shooting in a Jewish school before the 2012 presidential elections - did not have any effect on those ballots.
But his gamble on running on a post-partisan platform might backfire in a very tight race - as much as 30 percent of the electorate is still undecided.
Coming days before France votes in the first round of its presidential election Sunday, the shooting puts national security, terrorism and immigration at the heart of an already divisive campaign. The attack was described as a terrorist act by French authorities, and the perpetrator, who was killed by police, was reportedly a radicalized Belgian affiliated to Daesh. Like Mr. Trump, it is far from clear who will prevent her from winning.
"My government of national unity will implement this policy, so that the Republic will live, and that France will live", Le Pen said in an impromptu press conference. "There's no such thing as zero risk. Anyone who pretends (otherwise) is both irresponsible and deceitful".
In the Elabe poll, which was conducted on Wednesday and Thursday, both Fillon and Melenchon were seen narrowing Macron and Le Pen's lead over them.
He said he was not endorsing Le Pen, but nevertheless called her the candidate who is "strongest on borders, and she's the strongest on what's been going on in France". Le Pen's 21.5 percent was a fall of 1.5 percentage points.
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