A new poll has shown that approximately half of the Muslims living in France would consider leaving the country if Marine Le Pen wins the presidential election.

They said they would consider “leaving France to settle in another country.”

Le Pen, who is the leader of the Islamophobic far-right National Rally (NR) party, is reportedly the front-runner in France's 2027 presidential election slated for April.

In the meantime, an exclusive poll by the French Institute of Public Opinion (IFOP) for the local news outlet Marianne published on Wednesday found that expectations of Le Pen rising to power "are generating high levels of fear and a sense of insecurity."

The poll found 81 percent believed Le Pen's rise to power would lead to increased aggression and discrimination against Muslims.

The comprehensive survey by IFOP found 46 percent of Muslim respondents among the 9,689 respondents between September 25 and 30 would contemplate emigration if Le Pen were to become the new president. 

About a quarter of the Muslims said they might even be forced to conceal their religion from authorities if she wins, according to Marianne magazine.  

French Muslims say they will either vote for a Left candidate or someone young in the upcoming election.

Le Pen has vowed to wage war on what she has described as "Islamist ideologies" in France if she is elected to office. This includes making the hijab, the modest Muslim covering, illegal in France.

"I will submit to the French people, by referendum, a bill to combat Islamist ideologies with numerous powerful measures, including the banning of the Islamist headscarf in public places," Le Pen wrote on X last month.

She and her politician father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, have been the longtime face of the far-right in France, fueling what rights groups perceive as racist hatred in the country for decades.

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This is the fourth time she is running for the presidential post.

In the past, she has been convicted of graft by a court of law for embezzling funds meant for members of the European Parliament from 2004-16 and using the money to pay for NR party staff.

She has had to wear an electronic ankle tag under house arrest while serving a one-year term reduced from a 5-year prison sentence backdated to March 2025.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who assumed office in 2017, leaves in May.

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Macron's two terms in office will be remembered as one of the worst periods in French history, marred by violence. 

His government launched numerous crackdowns targeting a succession of protest movements that sapped his popularity and fueled broad criticism at home and abroad. Macron's 10-year tenure witnessed extreme police brutality against demonstrators, mostly youths.