Zemmour campaign hits the buffers as Le Pen races ahead of him in the polls

Former journalist’s push for presidency sputters as TV debate viewers label him ‘racist’ and ‘dangerous’

IT WAS a humiliating moment in a tough week for Eric Zemmour. During a debate on Thursday night on state broadcaster France 2, viewers were asked to send in one word to sum up how they viewed the far-Right contender for the French presidency, with the results displayed in the studio as a word cloud. The words “racist” and “dangerous” loomed largest.

With Emmanuel Macron riding high and the mainstream Left and Right in disarray, the most gripping fight of France’s election campaign has been billed as between Mr Zemmour and rival nationalist Marine Le Pen for a place in the second round run-off.

But while polls initially placed the pair neck-and-neck, Ms Le Pen has now streaked ahead.

“Eric Zemmour has lost the plot, he’s an imposter,” gloated Jean-Lin Lacapelle, an MEP from Ms Le Pen’s National Rally party. “He’s not on top of his dossiers. The more we advance, the worse it gets. He was a rival, he is no more. He’s toast.”

The 63-year-old ex-journalist’s campaign is currently sputtering. He has come in for fierce criticism over his praise for Vladimir Putin – who he long admired as a “great leader”, a patriot and a “rampart” against moral decadence.

He also initially refused to countenance welcoming Ukrainian refugees to France. He has since belatedly backtracked, calling Mr Putin the “assailant” and suggesting some Ukrainians could “temporarily” be let in as they were Christians.

Known for his diatribes against immigration and Islam, the TV polemist was widely seen as having lost a debate against Right-wing rival Valérie Pécresse last week in which he struggled to respond to questions like: “Why not shut all mosques then?”

He came under more criticism for blatantly staging an apparently spontaneous chat with motorists at a petrol station regarding fuel costs. The interviewees turned out to be pro-Zemmour militants.

To top it all, Paris Match reported that he acted like a cad to his wife and mother of their three children, who was denied access to the VIP box at his first rally in December as it was reserved for Sarah Knafo, his girlfriend and chief adviser.

Ms Le Pen has been gradually gaining momentum, with polls suggesting she will coast into the run-off on 16 to 18 per cent for a second straight election against Mr Macron – who is way out front on around 30 per cent.

But while her first-round prospects look rosy, many view her chances of actually clinching the presidency as virtually nil. The Economist this week placed the statistical likelihood at just 3 per cent.