Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has suffered a decline in support over the past year, with people across 35 countries reporting little confidence that he is doing the “right thing,” according to a new poll conducted by the Pew Research Center.
According to Pew, the results were mixed but only 40% of respondents reported having at least “some” confidence in Zelensky regarding world affairs. The reported levels of trust were the highest in Sweden (80%), the UK (72%), the Netherlands (66%), Canada (64%), and Japan (63%).
At the same time, Hungary (83%), Greece (72%), Tunisia (69%), Mexico (67%), Malaysia (61%), Italy (60%), and Türkiye (60%) were the most skeptical of Zelensky.
In many places a large portion of respondents – including 45% in India and 38% in South Africa and Sri Lanka – did not express any opinion of Zelensky whatsoever.
“Confidence in Zelensky has declined significantly over the past year in some countries where trend data is available,” the researchers wrote, noting that opinions also differ by political ideology. For example, American liberals are “more than twice as likely as conservatives to express confidence in him,” according to Pew.
Asked about their nation’s level of military and other support to Kiev, some 24% of Americans said it was “not enough,” while 31% said that Washington was providing “too much.” In Poland the views were split, while most in Hungary and Türkiye said their countries’ level of support was “about the right amount.”
Zelensky remains in power in Ukraine despite his term in office having officially expired on May 20. He opted not to hold a presidential election, citing martial law imposed due to the conflict with Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has argued that Zelensky’s legitimacy has “expired.” Putin noted that the Ukrainian constitution does not make any mention of the suspension of presidential elections and only explicitly prohibits holding parliamentary polls, meaning that only the term of the Verkhovna Rada, the national legislature, can be extended under such circumstances.
In the meantime, some 43% of Ukrainians believe that democratic institutions have worsened in the country during the five years of Zelensky’s presidency, while another 29% said there was no change, a recent study has shown. Of those who noted a decline in democracy, 28% said the actions of the authorities were to blame, the Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) reported last month.