In ten years the National Front's scores rose from less than 2 percent to more than 13 percent of the valid votes and the number of its electors from a hundred thousand to almost four millions. On the basis of two surveys conducted by CEVIPOF (Centre d'étude de la vie politique française) and OIP (Observatoire interrégional du politique) (1988-1989), this paper analyses the factors that account for this electoral rise. If the National Front vote is more frequent in urban areas, it is not so much because of objective factors (more contacts with immigrant populations, exposure to crime and violence, drugs) than because of subjective factors (fear and feeling of insecurity, pessimism) in relation with sociocultural and political specificities of the National Front's electorate (poor education, atomization, limited sociability, lack of trust in institutions etc.).