Is Eric Zemmour running or not?

Eric Zemmour, the right-wing journalist and self-declared populist, is at a crossroads. Will he or won’t he declare himself a presidential candidate? Few doubt he will declare. Timing is an issue. Some in his camp think he should delay declaring as long as possible. But executing an effective launch will be more important than its timing. He’s under concerted attack by political and media allies of President Emmanuel Macron. Yet his ability to rapidly respond, to perform opposition research of his own, to build a ground campaign, remains constrained. Is he really ready to mount a presidential election campaign, which will be considerably more demanding, costly and tricky than his current so-called book tour?

Zemmour seems to be at a respectable level in the latest Harris Interactive poll of voter preferences for the first round of voting, running second at 17 per cent behind Macron at 23 per cent. Marine Le Pen has lost half her support since June and now trails Zemmour in third place.