A year after he became president with a landslide victory, fewer than half of Ukrainians now say they trust Volodymyr Zelensky
Some 49 percent of Ukrainian citizens have lost confidence in Volodymyr Zelensky, who became president with 73.22 percent of the vote last year. Nevertheless, he is still more trusted than the country’s parliament and government.
According to a survey by non-governmental think tank, the Razumkov Center, along with the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation, 49 percent of polled Ukrainians distrust Zelensky, while just 44 percent still trust him.
A total of 75 percent do not trust the Verkhovna Rada, the country’s parliament, and 72 percent distrust the government. Respondents also showed a lack of faith in the judicial system, the anti-corruption bureau, and the police.
Sociologists at the Razumkov Center noted that Ukrainians have less-and-less confidence in the country’s institutions, highlighting that distrust in the cabinet has jumped from 51.5 percent in December 2019 to 72 percent in July 2020.
The research also discovered that the country’s most trusted institution is the army, at 65 percent, with the Church (65 percent), and volunteer battalions (53 percent) close behind.
In June, a Razumkov Center poll revealed that only 25.3 percent of Ukrainians would now vote for Zelensky, with 11 percent saying they’d vote for former president Petro Poroshenko.
According to Vadim Karasev, the director of Ukraine’s Institute for Global Strategies, Zelensky’s fallen popularity is due to promises that have not been fulfilled.
“The first year is the honeymoon period between the people and power. During this time, society is waiting for the government to fulfill its hopes,” he said. “A year has passed, but dreams have not come true, and disappointment has appeared.”
Zelensky, who became president in May 2019, was previously a comedian and actor. From 2015 to 2019, he played a high-school history teacher who unexpectedly became president of Ukraine in a TV series called ‘Servant of the People.’ After Zelensky himself was elected as the real president of Ukraine, he named his political party after the TV show in which he once starred.
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