Zelensky popularity begins to slide

The popularity of Ukrainian President Zelensky is beginning
to decline, according to a poll released on Oct. 14 by the Kyiv International
Institute of Sociology. About 66% of Ukrainians had a positive view of Zelensky
in polling of 1,200 respondents on Oct. 9-11, compared to 73% in September.
Parliamentary Speaker Dmytro Razumkov, who is closely aligned with Zelensky,
also saw his positive rating decline to 27% in October from 33% in September.
The third most popular politician is Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, the leader of the
neoliberal Voice parliamentary faction, with 25% of the public having a
positive view. Former PM Yulia Tymoshenko managed to boost her popularity to
23% from 19% in September, owing to her opposition to the farmland market.

Similar results were drawn in an October poll
conducted by the Razumkov Center for Economic and Political Research. About 70%
of Ukrainians said they trust Zelensky, 54.1% trust Speaker Dmytro Razumkov,
36.4% trust Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk and 36.1% trust Vakarchuk.
Tymoshenko enjoys the trust of 19.7% of the public. The poll was conducted
between Oct. 4 and 9 involving 2,105 respondents.

About 45% of Ukrainians believe that events in the
country are developing in the right direction, compared to 57% in September.
About 29% believe they aren’t, compared to 17% in September, according to the
same poll. About 34.4% of those polled believe the country is capable of
overcoming its problems in the next few years, while 43.5% believe it’s capable
in the further perspective. About 70.9% believe the Zelensky administration is
trying to improve conditions in the country.

Zenon Zawada: The sliding
popularity of Zelensky and The People’s Servant party was inevitable. Those
ratings, and sentiments about the country’s overall future, will inevitably
decline much further. The turning point will be Zelensky’s ability to fulfill
the Minsk Accords or his failure to do so. Those favoring the “peace at any
cost” scenario will reject him swiftly and drift towards the Putin-aligned
politicians. If he fails on Minsk and extends that warfare, he won’t gain much
with the pro-Western electorate, which already distrusts him.