Zelensky Tops Rankings as “Politician of the Year,” “Person of the Year” and “Disappointment of the Year,” Poll Finds

Almost half of respondents placed him in the last category.

For the second year running, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has topped the “Disappointment of the Year” and “Politician of the Year” rankings, according to a poll by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation.

Both indicators have risen.

This year, 45% of respondents called the president “disappointment of the year.” In 2020, only 28% considered him that.

At the same time, in 2021, 17% named Zelensky “politician of the year,” compared with 14.8% in 2020.

Second place in the “Politician of the Year” category is shared by fifth president Petro Poroshenko (8.1%) and former Verkhovna Rada speaker Dmytro Razumkov (8%). Also, 8.5% named Poroshenko “disappointment of the year.”

Almost 15% of respondents said no one could be named politician of the year, nearly 20% found it hard to answer, and 5% refused to answer the question.

Also mentioned as “politicians of the year” were Yulia Tymoshenko (4.4%), Yuriy Boiko (3.7%), Yevhen Murayev (3.4%), Ihor Smeshko (1.8%), Volodymyr Groysman (1.4%), Viktor Medvedchuk (1.2%), Vitaliy Klitschko (1.1%) and Serhiy Prytula (1%).

Respondents named the scandalous Servant of the People MP Mykola Tyshchenko (1.2%), Ilya Kiva (1.2%) and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal (1.1%) exclusively as “disappointment of the year.” Another 3% said all politicians had disappointed them.

Event of the Year

If last year most respondents named the coronavirus epidemic as the main event of the year in Ukraine, this year, in addition to the pandemic (6.5%), there are two more contenders for the title: the 30th anniversary of independence (6.3%) and coronavirus vaccination (5.9%).

Another 4.4% named the resignation of parliamentary speaker Dmytro Razumkov as the event of the year, 3.8% chose “Wagnergate,” and 3.7% consider it the “land market law.”

The threat of a Russian invasion was identified as the main event in Ukraine by 3% of respondents, and another 2.8% named the war in Donbas.

A small number of respondents (more than 1%) mentioned such events of the outgoing year as Biden and Zelensky’s talks, UAH 1,000 for vaccination, “Big Construction,” the law on oligarchs, Avakov’s resignation, etc.

And 4.5% of respondents believe no such events happened at all.

World events of the year were named as the coronavirus pandemic (12.1%), the election of Germany’s new chancellor (6.6%), events in Afghanistan (6.5%), Putin and Biden’s talks (5.6%), US elections (4.8%), coronavirus vaccination (4.5%), etc. 

Presidential Election

If presidential elections were held in the near future, the current president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, would receive the most votes in the first round: 17.5% of all respondents, or 24% of those who will take part in the elections and have decided whom to vote for.

Petro Poroshenko would vote for by 11% and 16% of respondents respectively, Yulia Tymoshenko 8% and 10%, Yuriy Boiko 7.5% and 9%, Dmytro Razumkov 7% and 9% respectively, Ihor Smeshko 5% and 6%, Yevhen Murayev 5% and 6% respectively, and Volodymyr Groysman 3.5% and 5% respectively.

Pollsters noted that compared with November, support for Razumkov and Murayev grew by 1.5% and 1%, respectively. The level of electoral support for other candidates in the first round did not change at a statistically significant level.

Party Ratings

The Servant of the People party remains the leader, but its advantage over other parties is slight. Thus, 20.5% of respondents who plan to vote and have decided on their choice are ready to vote for the “servants.”

Servant of the People is the only party with even support across all regions.

In second place with 17% support is European Solidarity. It is backed more by voters with higher education and, as a rule, wealthier ones. It has more support among EU-oriented voters in the west and, partly, in the center of Ukraine.

Third place is shared by three parties at once: Batkivshchyna (10.5%), the potential party “Reasonable Politics” of former Verkhovna Rada speaker Dmytro Razumkov (10.5%), and the pro-Russian OPZZh (10%).

Strength and Honor, led by former SBU head Ihor Smeshko (7%), and the Nashi project of pro-Russian former regionnaire Yevhen Murayev (5%) have a chance of entering parliament. Groysman’s Ukrainian Strategy is also fairly close to the threshold at 4.4%.

Person of the Year

Ukrainians named Volodymyr Zelensky (8.5%) “Person of 2021.”

Second place was shared by Petro Poroshenko (3.6%), Dmytro Razumkov (3.3%), Angela Merkel (3.1%) and Elon Musk (3%).

In third place is US President Joe Biden (2.7%), the poll says.

Meme of the Year

5.2% of surveyed Ukrainians named the scandalous “Volodymyr Zelensky press conference” as the meme of the year, and another 3.4% named Volodymyr Zelensky himself.

Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko and MP Mykola Tyshchenko each received 2.6% of mentions, in particular for their statements about food prices.

2.5% of respondents named “1000 hryvnias from Zelensky” a meme, and 2.1% consider “Kiva the scientist” (Naukova) a meme.

47.2% of respondents found it difficult to answer this question.

The study was conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation together with the sociological service of the Razumkov Centre from December 17 to 22, 2021, in all regions of Ukraine except Crimea and the territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions not controlled by Kyiv.

The survey covered 2018 respondents aged 18 and older. The theoretical sampling error is 2.3%.