Le Pen has led a movement of "de-demonisation of the National Front" to soften its image,[9] including limited expulsion of members accused of racism, antisemitism or Pétainism.

While her father had attracted controversy by saying that the mass murder of Jews in gas chambers during the Holocaust was "a detail of the history of World War II", she described genocide as "the height of barbarism".

Marine Le Pen received substantial media attention during the campaign as a result of comments, made during a speech to party members in Lyon on 10 December 2010, in which she compared the use of public streets and squares in French cities (in particular rue Myrha in the 18th arrondissement of Paris) for Muslim prayers with the Nazi occupation of France.

[62] Le Pen's partner Louis Aliot,[33] a member of the FN's Executive Committee, criticized "the attempted manipulation of opinion by communitarian groups and those really responsible for the current situation in France".

[64][65][66] After Jean-François Kahn's comments on BFM TV on 13 December 2010, she accused the Élysée Palace of organising "state manipulation" with the intention of demonizing her in public opinion.

[75] At a European level, she stopped the alliance built by her father with some right-wing extremist parties and refused to be part of a group with the radical Jobbik or the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn.

[78][non-primary source needed] Her social program and her support of SYRIZA in the 2015 Greek general elections led Nicolas Sarkozy to declare her a far-left politician sharing some of Jean-Luc Mélenchon's propositions.

Éric Zemmour, then known as a journalist for the conservative newspaper Le Figaro, wrote during the 2012 presidential election that the FN had become a left-wing party under the influence of adviser Florian Philippot.

[89] During her opening speech in Tours on 16 January 2011, she advocated to "restore the political framework of the national community" and to implement the direct democracy which enables the "civic responsibility and the collective tie" thanks to the participation of public-spirited citizens for the decisions.

She also denounced the "Europe of Brussels" which "everywhere imposed the destructive principles of ultra-liberalism and free trade, at the expense of public utilities, employment, social equity and even our economic growth which became within twenty years the weakest of the world".

[99] In a speech in Paris on 19 November 2011, Le Pen presented the main themes of her presidential campaign: sovereignty of the people and democracy, Europe, re-industrialisation and a strong state, family and education, immigration and assimilation versus communitarianism, geopolitics and international politics.

[116] On 1 May 2012, during a speech delivered in Paris after the traditional Joan of Arc and Labor Day march, Le Pen refused to back either Sarkozy or Hollande in the run-off on 6 May.

Addressing the party's annual rally at Place de l'Opéra, she vowed to cast a blank ballot and told her supporters to vote with their conscience, saying: "Hollande and Sarkozy – neither of them will save you.

In April 2015, Le Pen's father gave two interviews including controversial statements about World War II and about minorities in France, causing a political crisis in the FN.

[128] However, she said she would not officially launch her campaign before February 2017, waiting for the results of the Republican and Socialist primaries, and preferred to keep a low media profile and use thematic think tanks to expand and promote her political program.

The FN's communications also received media attention: a new Mitterrand-inspired poster depicting her in a rural landscape with the slogan "Appeased France" was a response to surveys indicating that she remained controversial for large parts of the French electorate.

Le Pen launched her candidacy on 4 and 5 February 2017 in Lyon, promising a referendum on France's membership of the European Union if she could not achieve her territorial, monetary, economic and legislative goals for the country within six months renegotiation with the EU.

[131] Le Pen met with several incumbent heads of state including Lebanon's Michel Aoun,[132] Chad's Idriss Déby,[133] and Russia's Vladimir Putin.

[135][136] In 2017, Le Pen argued that France as a nation bore no responsibility for the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup, in which Paris policemen arrested Jewish citizens for deportation to Auschwitz as part of the Holocaust.

[137] On 20 April 2017, in the wake of a shooting targeting police officers which was being treated as a suspected terrorist attack, Le Pen cancelled a planned campaign event.

Le Pen is strongly opposed to wind energy due to its intermittency, tax burden in utility bills and impact on the landscape and built heritage.

[180] She also criticised the privileged relations that France maintains with countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which she said are helping to fund and arm Islamist fundamentalists,[181] while encouraging closer ties with the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, which she said "fight fundamentalism".

[197] Le Pen appeared several times on À vous de juger (You Be The Judge), a political discussion show on France 2 hosted by journalist and commentator Arlette Chabot.

[198] In her first appearance as a main guest on À vous de juger, on 9 December 2010, she was questioned on economic, social and immigration issues by Chabot and political commentator Alain Duhamel; she then took part in debates, first with the socialist Mayor of Évry Manuel Valls and then Rachida Dati, Minister of Justice.

[218] On 21 April 2011, she was featured in the 2011 Time 100[20] with a commentary from Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the far-right Liberal Democratic Party of Russia and vice chairman of the State Duma.

Her appearance sparked controversy, with anti-fascist group Unite Against Fascism opposing her invitation on a No Platform basis and organising a demonstration outside the venue, attended by around 200 people.

[223] In October 2023, Le Pen was convicted of committing defamation against French NGO Cimade when she accused the organization in a January 2022 television interview of being "accomplices to smugglers" and being involved in an "illegal immigration network from the Comoros" in Mayotte.

[224] In December 2023, Le Pen was ordered to stand trial after she was charged with paying National Rally party officials through funds earmarked for European Parliament assistants.

[238] In the 2007 election, Le Pen and her substitute Steeve Briois[clarification needed] stood for the FN in the Pas-de-Calais' 14th constituency, Hénin-Beaumont, a former coal mining area with high unemployment.

[245] According to political analysts, Le Pen's strong showing in the constituency was a result of economic and social issues like de-industrialization, unemployment and a feeling of abandonment, rather than immigration or security.