Director of the Bruges group and author of Moralitis, A Cultural Virus Robert Oulds gave his point of view on the upcoming French elections by predicting that Emmanuel Macron will win because of his new political positions stolen from Marine Le Pen. Despite Ms Le Pen’s stronger right-wing stance in 2017, which caused her to lose the election, Mr Oulds explained that he did not see her as a “eurosceptic” as she has now changed her tone to appeal to more French voters. However, Mr Oulds revealed that Mr Macron has also changed and explained to Express.co.uk how the French president now looks like his rival.

Polls suggest the presidential race could be closer than in 2017, with an Odoxa-Dentsu poll found that 66% of 1,005 French people polled did not want Mr Macron to run for office next year.

A Kantar poll also found that Mr Macron’s popularity was 35% compared to Ms Le Pen’s 34%.

In addition, the Kantar poll recorded an eight-point jump in the polls after the stabbing of a police officer in France, considered a terrorist attack.

But the French Institute of Public Opinion added to Mr Macron’s electoral difficulties by discovering that Ms Le Pen would easily win the first ballot in France with 30% of the vote.

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The neighboring country uses the second round of voting in presidential elections which see the top two candidates in the first round face off in a second round.

Research showed bright spots for Mr Macron as they found he narrowly won the second vote by 54-46%.

This is a far cry from the 2017 results which saw Mr Macron win 66-34% against Ms Le Pen.

Mr Oulds gave his take on next year’s election and told Express.co.uk: “I don’t think Marine Le Pen is Eurosceptic or doing anything. [the EU].

“But we’ll see if she ever gets the presidency, which I doubt because President Macron stole her clothes.

“And also his policies and of course a lot of people will vote for him even if they don’t like him just to stop him.”

“So I don’t see that she would get the presidency.”

Mr Oulds added that Mr Macron’s tough stance on “revival” and terror has shifted him from a center-left figure to a right-wing politician to appeal to the French electorate.

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The think tank director also noticed a change in Mr. Macron’s rhetoric where he blames the “Anglo-Saxons” for hoarding vaccines and calls the hijab an “ostentatious religious symbol” after banning its use in posters of political parties.

Mr Oulds concluded that his language was becoming increasingly strong and identity-based in what he believed to be a complacency to the right.

Ms Le Pen, meanwhile, has abandoned her far-right roots by saying she would like to ‘fix’ the European Union rather than leave it.

She also said she had “no negative feelings” towards foreigners in an attempt to distance her National Rally party from its ties to xenophobia.