A poll published by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) on Monday found that 75 percent of Ukrainians want President Volodymyr Zelensky to leave office after the war with Russia ends.
KIIS analysts said the public is still generally supportive of Zelensky’s wartime leadership, and 60 percent of poll respondents said they trusted him. His high-water mark for public trust in the KIIS poll was 90 percent, achieved shortly after Russia invaded in February 2022. He was sitting at just 37 percent before the Russian invasion began.
While 41 percent of respondents believed Zelensky should remain engaged in politics after the war ends, only 25 percent would be willing to vote him back into office as president.
On the other hand, 36 percent of the respondents said Zelensky should leave politics entirely after the war, and 14 percent wanted him to face criminal prosecution for some of the actions he has taken as president. The poll did not go into detail about what offenses he should be prosecuted for.
The Kyiv Independent noted on Monday that Zelensky’s poll numbers dipped substantially in August and September, after Zelensky approved a bill that weakened Ukraine’s anti-corruption investigative bodies. Zelensky said the measure was needed to clean out “Russian influence” from Ukraine’s anti-corruption investigations.
The Gallup organization has taken four national public opinion surveys in Ukraine since the war began and found Zelensky with comparable highs and lows to the KIIS survey. According to Gallup, Zelensky had 84 percent approval before Russia attacked, and is now sitting at 67 percent trust, a bit higher than KIIS found — although Gallup’s last survey was in August, possibly before the full effect of Zelensky’s anti-corruption bill had been felt upon public opinion.
Zelensky suspended the 2024 presidential election under martial law, which he declared after Russia invaded in February 2022. There have been occasional rumors that he might hold an election before the war ends, although Ukrainian law stipulates that no elections can be held until the state of martial law is lifted.
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