A recent poll shows that 63% of Ukrainians approve of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s leadership – far more than the 4% approval rating US President Donald Trump claimed recently.
The poll was conducted by the Identity and Borders in Flux (IBIF) Project, funded by the British Academy, between November 2024 and January 2025. Another recent poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) says 57% of Ukrainians trust Zelensky as of early February.
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However, the KIIS poll says that while the approval rating for Zelensky is similar to his trust rating, they are not identical.
“You can approve of a person’s actions but not necessarily trust them,” KIIS said.
IBIF poll
According to the IBIF survey, two-thirds of Ukrainians either completely or somewhat approve of Zelensky’s actions, while 14.4% of respondents do not.
IBIF’s poll shows that Zelensky remains Ukraine’s most popular politician, with approval ratings increasing slightly compared to the previous poll.
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Beyond general approval, the survey also assessed public perceptions of Zelensky’s personal qualities:
- 74% of respondents consider him a patriot of Ukraine.
- 73% believe he is intelligent and knowledgeable.
- 65% view him as a strong leader.
- 60% describe him as honest and trustworthy.
“Scores that might be the envy of many Western leaders,” the research says of the positive ratings.
Different ratings, cooperation with opposition
Approval and trust ratings differ from electoral ratings, which reflect voter preferences when choosing from a list of candidates. In elections, people apply different criteria for evaluation, which leads to a distinct attitude. KIIS warns that many are misinterpreting approval and trust levels as electoral ratings, which is misleading.
As per the IBIF research, while Zelensky remains the most popular politician, Ukrainians still want more cooperation between him and the opposition.
The IBIF poll says 70% of respondents believe Zelensky should include more opposition members in his cabinet, and 82% think opposition figures should collaborate more with Zelensky.
This shows that, despite their approval of Zelensky, Ukrainians expect both him and the opposition to work together more effectively, the research says.
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According to the survey, Zelensky remains the most popular politician in Ukraine. Although some popular military figures are not currently running for office, they still enjoy strong public support.
Regarding potential election outcomes, Zelensky leads with 26%-32% of Ukrainians saying they would vote for him in the first round – well ahead of former President Petro Poroshenko, who garnered just 5%-6%.
When focusing only on decided and likely voters, Zelensky’s support rises to 32%-41%, with his closest competitors, Poroshenko and politician Dmytro Razumkov, trailing in the single digits.
While these numbers could change, particularly if new candidates enter the race, the current data suggests that Zelensky is likely to reach the second round of voting. He would also be the front-runner among political candidates at this stage, as per the survey.
A potential challenger in the second round could be General Valery Zaluzhny, the former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) and currently the Ukrainian ambassador to the UK. However, Zaluzhny has not publicly expressed any political ambitions.
The findings contradict Trump’s recent remarks, in which he claimed Zelensky’s approval rating was as low as 4%. He also called for elections to be held in Ukraine.
Zelensky dismissed the 4% figure as Russian disinformation.
“If someone wants to change me right now, it won’t work... if we are talking about 4%, then we have seen this disinformation, we understand that it comes from Russia, and we have evidence,” Zelensky said at a press conference.
In response, Trump took to Truth Social and labeled Zelensky a “dictator without elections” and warned him to “better move fast” to strike a deal with Russia, or “otherwise he will not have a country left.”
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