France's Emmanuel Macron maintains poll lead after TV clash

French President Emmanuel Macron has maintained his lead over far-right challenger Marine Le Pen following a prickly television head-to-head debate, a poll showed on Thursday.

With just three days to go before Sunday's election run-off, the two were due back on the campaign trail - Macron in a Paris suburb with a strong left-wing vote, and Le Pen in the north of the country where she has a loyal following.

Macron was seen as winning re-election with an unchanged 56% of the vote, according to a survey by OpinionWay/Kea Partners conducted between April 20-21, thus capturing some respondents after Wednesday evening's nearly three-hour TV debate.


But uncertainty about the final result remained high as the poll also showed that just 72% expected to cast their vote - a figure which would mark the lowest turnout since 1969.

Viewers of the only debate between the two final candidates deemed Macron prone to bouts of arrogance but also found him more convincing and fit to be president, a separate Elabe poll for BFM TV showed.

Le Pen, who focused on expressing empathy with people she said had "suffered" since Macron beat her in 2017, was judged slightly more in tune with voters' concerns but her far-right views were still considered much more worrying, the poll showed.