Trust in Zelensky remains relatively high among Ukrainians, poll suggests

President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to command the trust of nearly six in ten Ukrainians, with support remaining stable in recent months, a poll released by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) found.

According to the survey results released on Oct. 14, 59 per cent of Ukrainians polled hold "trust" in Zelensky while 37 per cent distrust the president. Another 3 per cent of poll respondents were unsure. The results are virtually unchanged from another KIIS survey released in May 2024 and down from a 2024 high of 64 per cent in February.

Levels of trust in Zelensky have continually decreased from his record-high of 90 per cent in May 2022 - just months following the start of the invasion in February 2022. At that time, only seven per cent of respondents said that they did not have trust in the president.

The current polling numbers draw a stark contrast with level of support for the president this time last year, with Zelensky having received the trust of 76 per cent of respondents in October 2023 - down 18 percentage points since.

Zelensky continues to maintain the trust of a majority of respondents from every region of Ukraine - including a regional high of 62 per cent in the central regions of the country, which includes Kyiv.

The president also maintains the trust of 51 per cent of respondents in the country's war-torn eastern regions, although levels of distrust in eastern Ukraine are among the highest in the country with 45 per cent saying they do not have trust in Zelensky.

Despite the steadily declining numbers since the start of the war, Zelensky still commands a level of trust well above those typically seen in Western democracies. For comparison, the average approval of U.S. presidents from 1938-2023 is only 53%. Of the three most recent presidents, only Barack Obama received an average approval rating of more than 50%.

The KIIS poll was conducted from Sept. 20 to Oct. 3, 2024, and involved 2,004 respondents from all regions of Ukraine.

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The Kyiv IndependentOlena Goncharova