The voters of the FN under Jean-Marie Le Pen and Marine Le Pen: Continuity or change?

Abstract

The French National Front (FN), currently one of the most successful radical right-wing parties at the electoral booth in Western Europe, has more than doubled its vote share from around 10 per cent in the late 2000s, or the final years of Jean-Marie Le Pen’s presidency, to around 15–25 per cent in the 2010s after Marine Le Pen has taken over the leadership of the party. Aiming to understand the reasons for this increase in the party’s vote and possible differences in the FN voter between Le Pen father and Le Pen daughter, we compare the individual characteristics of the FN voters, as well as the structural conditions in an individual’s surrounding that might influence why somebody votes FN in 2007 and 2012. Except for the fact that the FN electorate became younger in 2012, the core characteristics of the FN voter (for example, low education, dissatisfaction with democracy in France and a working class background) have remained constant. However, what has changed in 2012 is that the FN was more successful in attracting a higher proportion of voters that belong to the socio-demographic strata traditionally, overrepresented within its electorate.