Around 63% of Ukrainians approve of Volodymyr Zelensky's actions as a president, according to a survey carried out by the Identity and Borders in Flux: The case of Ukraine (IBIF) project in partnership with the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) and published on Feb. 19.
The poll was published shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump alleged that Zelensky holds a "4% approval rating" without providing a source to back his claim. Soon after, Trump dubbed Zelensky as a "dictator."
The survey was conducted between November 2024 and January 2025 with the participation of 1,600 respondents. The IBIF project is primarily funded by the British Academy, with additional funding from ZOiS and George Washington University's Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies.
Some 26.1% of Ukrainians said they fully approve of Zelensky, while another 36.9% said they tend to approve of him. The overall figure is higher than in polls conducted before Russia's full-scale invasion and in the spring of 2024.
The poll showed that 14.4% fully disapprove of Zelensky's actions as a president, while 18.3% said they tend to disapprove of him.
A total of 73% of respondents said they could call Zelensky an "intelligent person," while 63% called him a "strong leader."
Zelensky remains the most popular Ukrainian politician, leading in polls for the future presidential election, KIIS wrote.
Around 26%-32% of Ukrainians are ready to vote for Zelensky in the first round, according to the survey. Zelensky significantly outpaces his predecessor, businessman and lawmaker Petro Poroshenko, who polled at 5%-6%.
"A potential contender in a run-off could be a popular military figure General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, former сommander-in-сhief and current Ukrainian ambassador to the U.K., but he has not voiced publicly any political ambitions," KIIS said.
Another KIIS poll published on Feb. 19 showed that, as of February, around 57% of Ukrainians trust Zelensky, an increase of five percentage points since December.
Ukraine was to hold the presidential election in the spring of 2024 but the vote was postponed due to Russia's full-scale invasion. The Ukrainian constitution does not permit elections during martial law.
Russia has sought to use this to undermine Zelensky's legitimacy as president, a narrative more recently promoted by Trump.
Kateryna Denisova
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