The more popular national Front becomes, the more socially acceptable it becomes, leading to further popularity

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-1 ... y-election
An Ifop poll Oct. 9 put the National Front as the largest party in France for the first time, with 24 percent of the French saying they’d vote for it in next May’s European elections, up from 21 percent in previous poll in May. UMP was second at 22 percent and the Socialists third at 19 percent.
France’s anti-euro National Front won a local by-election in the country’s south, riding on the discontent with Francois Hollande’s Socialist presidency and the disarray in the Opposition UMP party.
The National Front candidate Laurent Lopez took 53.9 percent of the vote in the town of Brignoles yesterday to win a seat on the local department’s council. Catherine Delzers, the candidate of former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP party, won 46.1 percent, according to France 2 television.
Although a relatively minor election, the victory is a warning to both the Socialists and the UMP that Marine Le Pen’s National Front may be turning into a party that speaks for the dissatisfaction of a population grappling with the highest unemployment in about 14 years and an economy that has struggled to grow over the last two years.