Trust in Zelensky declines as war nears third year
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According to KIIS, trust in the president is "much more strongly linked, not to the region of residence, but to the level of optimism."
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky listens to the national anthem before delivering a speech on November 19, 2024. (AP)
According to the most recent study, domestic trust in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has dipped somewhat as the war in Ukraine nears its third year.
Polling by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) in December indicated that 52% of Ukrainians continued to believe in Zelensky and his leadership, 39% were skeptical, and 9% were uncertain.
The KIIS poll demonstrates the trend over the previous year: at the end of 2023, 77% of Ukrainians trusted the president. By February 2024, trust had declined to 64%, and by May 2024, it had gone even further to 59%, with the proportion of people expressing distrust rising from 22% to 36%.
Trust levels fell again between October and December after stabilizing in October. This reduction was ascribed to respondents' growing uncertainty about Ukraine's future,
Practically every decline corresponded with specific events that may have had an influence. According to KIIS, Zelensky's popularity ratings fell by around five percentage points after General Valerii Zaluzhnyi resigned as commander-in-chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces in February 2024.
Then, in April, just before the May poll trust dip, Zelensky signed an unpopular mobilization bill, reducing the conscription age from 27 to 25.
The autumn dip in trust ratings coincided with a large Russian attack in eastern Ukraine targeting Pokrovsk and Kurakhove. Russian soldiers have been making unprecedented gains since the beginning of the war.
According to KIIS, trust in the president is "much more strongly linked, not to the region of residence, but to the level of optimism." KIIS previously published the findings of a study on Ukrainians' optimism about the future and their perceptions of societal togetherness.
According to one categorization, 50% of Ukrainians are constant or relatively consistent optimists, with 23% being persistent or reasonably consistent pessimists. The remaining 27% are divided or uncertain about Ukraine's future and unification.
