More Than Half of Ukrainians Disapprove of Zelensky's Actions, Yet He Leads Both the Rating and the Anti-Rating, KIIS Poll Finds

65.3% of respondents believe the country is heading in the wrong direction, a figure that has dropped despite tensions on the northern and eastern fronts.

Volodymyr Zelensky leads the presidential rating, with Poroshenko and Tymoshenko in the top three, according to data from a poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS).   

Six political parties would enter the Verkhovna Rada if parliamentary elections were held in mid-December.

Support for Zelensky among Ukrainians is growing compared with the institute's previous polls.

58.6% of Ukrainians disapprove of the activities of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, while 26.4% approve.

According to the October KIIS poll, the level of approval of the head of state's activities has barely changed. In June, the figures were significantly different: at that time, 34.1% of respondents approved of the president's actions, and 52.7% did not support them.

Furthermore, as of mid-December, the vast majority of the population, 65.3%, believe the country is heading in the wrong direction. In October, 71.1% held this view. 

The share of those who believe the country is heading in the right direction stands at 18.3%. This is 3.3% higher than in October.

The likely reason for the changes in these indicators is the refusal of Ukrainian authorities to yield to the Kremlin, even under the threat of a full-scale invasion, and the continued rapprochement with NATO. 

Presidential rating 

At the same time, Zelensky continues to lead the presidential rating. If elections were held in mid-December, 27.6% of those who went to vote and had made a choice would vote for him.

According to the October KIIS poll, Zelensky's rating stood at 24.7%. 

For December, 16% are ready to vote for Petro Poroshenko, the fifth president and leader of the European Solidarity party, and 9.4% for Yuriy Boyko, co-chair of the Opposition Platform – For Life faction. 

They are followed by Yulia Tymoshenko, leader of Batkivshchyna, with 9% support, Ihor Smeshko, leader of the Power and Honor party, with 6.6%, and former Verkhovna Rada speaker Dmytro Razumkov with 5.9%.

Anti-rating

However, as sociologists point out, Zelensky also has the highest anti-rating among candidates. 30.7% of all respondents would never vote for him under any circumstances. 29% of those surveyed would not vote for Poroshenko.

Rating of Ukrainian parties

Six political parties would overcome the five-percent threshold if elections to the Verkhovna Rada were held in the near future. 

According to the survey results, 17.6% of Ukrainians who have made a choice are ready to vote for the Servant of the People party in mid-December. The European Solidarity party remains in second place in the rating with 16.5% support.

The All-Ukrainian Association Batkivshchyna would be supported by 13.7% of voters, the Opposition Platform – For Life party by 13.6%, Razumkov's Sensible Politics party by 6.5%, the Power and Honor party by 5.5%, and the Ukrainian Strategy of Groysman party by 4.6%.

It is noted that compared with October, the rating of the top parties has not changed significantly, meaning all recorded fluctuations are within the statistical margin of error, although there is a tendency for support for the Opposition Platform – For Life to decline.

KIIS conducted the poll from December 9 to 17 using face-to-face interviews. 2,025 respondents were surveyed in all regions of Ukraine, except for occupied Crimea and the uncontrolled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.