Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded quickly to U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent false claim that he only had a 4% approval rating. According to a survey by the independent Ukrainian research organization Rating Group, 65% of Ukrainians trusted Zelenskyy, with one-third trusting him completely, one-third trusting him somewhat, and one-third not trusting him at all. The study also found that attitudes toward Zelenskyy have improved for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago. In November 2024, his approval rating hovered around 53%, going up slightly earlier in 2025 to 57%.

Zelenskyy’s term in office should have ended in May 2024, but with Ukraine still under martial law, new elections are currently prohibited. Researchers for the SOCIS survey asked respondents who they would vote for if elections were to be held in the near future, and offered the names of 13 candidates as possible answers. The survey, which included the names of Zaluzhnyi and three other high-ranking military officials, found that Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s defense intelligence, scored 3.2% of potential votes, followed by Andriy Biletskyi (2.8%) and Denys Prokopenko (1.3%), with Zaluzhnyi scoring 27.2% of the hypothetical vote.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also weighed in on Zelenskyy’s approval rating, claiming that his support was low compared to his closest rival. But Hrushetskyi, an expert in polling, argued that such comparisons are misleading because Zaluzhnyi is currently serving as Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK and has not declared any political ambitions. Zaluzhnyi and other military personnel are constantly included in opinion polls for possible elections, which can distort results since people who trust them deeply may draw votes away from other candidates.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/what-ukrainian-opinion-polls-say-about-volodymyr-zelenskyy/a-71774172?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf