Support for Zelensky and Servants of the People dropping

24 January 2022

A new poll by Kyiv International Institute of Sociology shows support for both president Zelensky and the ruling Servant of the People party slipping compared to recent months. The poll was conducted by telephone over Jan. 20-21.

 

If the election for the president were held last Sunday, President Zelensky would garner votes from 23.5% of those who already know who they would vote for, versus 20.9% for former president Poroshenko. Former PM Yuliya Tymoshenko ranks third, with 11.8% of voters who are sure. Poroshenko’s rating climbed more than the margin of error, as did that of Ihor Smeshko, whose rating had dipped to 6.8% of committed voters in mid-December. Smeshko would now receive 9.6% of the votes of those who were sure.

 

Would-be candidates losing voter share include President Zelensky, down within the margin of error from 26.2% in December to 23.5%, Dmytro Razumkov, down from 8.1% to 5.0%, and Oleh Tyahnybok, down from 3.1% to 1.1%.

 

Among parties, movers outside of the margin of error include Poroshenko's European Solidarity Party, up from 15.4% in December to 18.9%, making it currently the most popular political party. Zelensky’s Servant of the People Party dropped from 17.4% to 13.7%. Furthermore, European Solidarity is increasingly considered to be the main opposition party in Ukrainian politics, with 32.3% of respondents viewing the party in this way.

 

Support for Zelensky running for a second term is dropping with 30.3% of respondents saying that they would support him, versus 34.3% in November and 33.7% in December.

 

James Hydzik: The polling was done just after Poroshenko’s return to Ukraine, during which the judiciary seemed cowed, and Zelensky’s comments regarding the fact that people should start planning their summer vacations instead of worrying about the threat of war.

 

Poroshenko’s return was seen by some analysts as taking the wind out of the sails of Dmytro Razumkov, which the poll indicates has indeed happened. However, Razumkov’s rating is still currently high enough to keep him in the running, unless Poroshenko continues gaining support. The presidential election is still two years away, and Zelensky is not in a terminal dive, though the prospects of his own and his party’s ratings gaining in popularity seem very thin at the moment.