Zelenskiy gains support among those opposed to Poroshenko

About 41% of voters who have decided to cast their
ballot for Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the runoff are doing so being they’re opposed
to Ukrainian President Poroshenko, the Rating Sociological Group reported on
Apr. 11. This figure has swelled from 33% in February. At the same time, those
voting for Poroshenko to oppose Zelenskiy has risen to 22% from 12% in
February.

About 66% of poll respondents said Zelenskiy’s voters
are casting their ballots as a protest against the current situation in the
country, rather than for Zelenskiy’s personal qualities. That figure has
swelled from 50% in February. At the same time, 26% of respondents said
Poroshenko’s voters are casting their ballots to oppose Russian President Putin
(compared to 32% in February), while those who believe they’re voting for his
personal qualities has risen to 31% from 22%. The poll was conducted between
Apr. 5 and 10 among 3,000 respondents.

Zenon Zawada: The first
conclusion that we draw from this poll is that Zelenskiy is collecting the
votes of those who oppose Poroshenko, but whose candidate didn’t get past the
first round. Zelenskiy collecting the anti-Poroshenko electorate was widely expected.
The second main conclusion is that few voters are buying Poroshenko’s argument
that they need to vote for him as the better candidate to challenge Russia’s
ongoing military aggression. In light of the widely held view that he is the
better candidate to challenge Putin, we conclude that Poroshenko has failed to
wage this war properly, which should have also involved efforts to improve the
domestic situation, particularly with rule of law and prosecuting corruption
(rather than indulging in it, allegedly). Instead, Poroshenko is widely viewed
as having exploited the war for his own personal gain.