Candidates for the 2027 French presidential election are focusing heavily on mobilizing voters who typically do not participate in elections. This group, known as abstentionists, has grown significantly in recent years, especially among younger people and those with fewer educational qualifications. In the 2022 presidential election, more than one in four registered voters did not cast a ballot in the first round, highlighting the scale of the issue. This trend has become a central point of strategy for the main candidates, including Jean-Luc Mélenchon of La France insoumise and Marine Le Pen of the National Rally. The abstentionists are not a single, uniform group but represent a diverse range of social profiles and lifestyles, found in both urban and rural areas. The data reveal a sharp increase in systematic abstention, where voters skip all rounds of both presidential and legislative elections. In 2022, 30.4% of registered voters without any diploma abstained systematically, compared to 9.5% of those with higher education. This gap has grown over time, with the difference between these groups increasing by more than 20 percentage points since 2002. The trend is most pronounced among those with the lowest levels of education, and the decline in voting has accelerated significantly since 2012. This has led Mélenchon to focus his campaign on mobilizing young people and residents of popular neighborhoods, whom he refers to as the "New France." His strategy includes addressing issues like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Islamophobia, while he has largely stepped back from other parts of the electorate, such as rural areas. The geographical distribution of abstention is also a key factor in the candidates’ strategies. Polling stations across France show a varied pattern of participation, with some areas experiencing consistently high turnout and others marked by massive and recurring abstention, often exceeding 40%. In 2022, Mélenchon performed best in these low-participation areas, achieving an average of 41% in such regions compared to only 19% in the most mobilized areas. Marine Le Pen, by contrast, has a more evenly distributed electorate across different levels of participation. Both candidates appear to have similar-sized reservoirs of potential voters—about 2.5 million each—though their locations differ. Mélenchon's focus is on the Paris region, particularly areas like Seine-Saint-Denis, Sarcelles, and Gonesse, while Le Pen’s support is more spread out in northern France and the Grand Est region. To reach these voters, candidates are employing targeted strategies. Mélenchon's movement, La France insoumise, organized a series of caravans in 2026 to encourage registration on electoral lists, a campaign that has taken place every summer since 2016. The reasons for abstention are varied: some voters feel their dissatisfaction with political leaders or the government, others believe no candidate or list suits them, and some think the elections won’t change their lives. With abstention continuing to rise—reaching 42.8% in the first round and 42.7% in the second of the 2026 municipal elections—how effectively the candidates can mobilize these voters could be crucial in determining the outcome of the 2027 presidential election. Mélenchon, in particular, is betting on the idea that this voter base may not follow the traditional logic used by pollsters, who currently predict a strong loss for him.