55% of surveyed Ukrainians trust Volodymyr Zelenskyy, while 40% do not. The trust-distrust balance stands at +15%, according to a survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology conducted on 20 July–3 August, after high-profile personnel decisions and protests in many cities linked to the dismissal of Mykhaylo Fedorov.
20% trust him completely, while the rest “rather” trust him. Among those who do not trust Zelenskyy, 19% do not trust him “at all,” and 20% “rather” do not trust him.
KIIS last conducted such a survey in May, when 61% of respondents trusted the president and 34% did not (balance: +27%). In May, respondents were asked about trust in other public figures as well, whereas in this survey they were not.
“In our observations, this can create a context in which Volodymyr Zelenskyy is perceived somewhat better (that is, people hear other names toward whom attitudes are worse, and against that backdrop perceptions of V. Zelenskyy are slightly better). Second, at that time we also read out a brief description of the person in addition to the name. For V. Zelenskyy, we ‘reminded’ respondents that he is the President. For some respondents, this may activate a view of him as the embodiment of the institution, which makes attitudes more positive (since there is a war now and we must unite),” KIIS explained.
Sociologists consider it appropriate to compare the results of the previous study with April, when there was no question about trust in other individuals. In April, 58% of respondents trusted the president and 36% did not (trust-distrust balance: +22%).
“That is, compared with April, we also record a decline in trust in V. Zelenskyy. However, at least for now we do not observe an outright collapse in trust due to the high-profile personnel decisions, which some politicians, experts, and commentators may have expected,” the survey results say.
KIIS added that the personnel decisions could still have contributed to the decline in trust, since in June and early July successful diplomatic strikes may have boosted trust.