Perhaps it was inevitable, but public approval ratings fell for President Volodymyr Zelensky, Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk and parliamentary speaker Dmytro Razumkov, according to a survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.
Still, the president’s approval ranking remains positive and would be the envy of many politicians.
A telephone survey of 1,200 people found that 66 percent of respondents had positive reactions to Zelensky in October, down from 73 percent in September. In the same period, positive reactions to Honcharuk declined to 10 percent from 17 percent; positive reactions to Razumkov went down to 27 percent from 33 percent.
Zelensky is in the spotlight of controversy recently, following his support for the so-called Steinmeier Formula, under which Ukraine would grant special status and local autonomy to currently Kremlin-occupied parts of the eastern Donbas.
He has also been under greater scrutiny in the fallout from his July 25 phone call with U.S. President Donald J. Trump, in which Zelensky expressed support for investigating Trump’s political rival, ex-U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden, and criticized European leaders Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron for not doing enough for Ukraine. The call triggered an impeachment investigation by the U.S. House, controlled by the Democrats, of the Republican president.
Meanwhile, the return of billionaire oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky has also raised many eyebrows.
Kolomoisky has met with the president wants to regain ownership from the state of PrivatBank, which he bankrupted at a cost of $5.5 billion in taxpayer money. He has also been accused of trying to consolidate control over industries and politicians alike. The central bank says his presence is a top reason why lending to Ukraine from the International Monetary Fund has been frozen.
Still, Zelensky still enjoys broad popular support, according to the survey, a strong sign that Ukrainians don’t regret electing him over ex-President Petro Poroshenko in spring.
About 64 percent of respondents approve of Zelensky’s actions and announcements in September and October, while 22 percent do not approve. Meanwhile, 53 percent of respondents approve of the parliament’s actions over the past two months, while 30 percent do not approve.
A tenth of Ukrainians heard nothing about the protests over Zelensky’s plan to end the war in Donbas, while 22 percent said they know little about the protesters’ demands. About a quarter of respondents approved of the protests while 41 percent did not approve.
A slightly larger percent of respondents oppose Zelensky’s orders to prepare large state enterprises for privatization compared to those who approve it.
About half of respondents said they did not know who Honcharuk was, but the percent who disapprove of him rose from 9 percent in September to 14 percent in October.
The survey also tested several issues important to Ukrainians.
About 70 percent of October respondents believe that the issue of selling agricultural land should be decided through an all-Ukrainian referendum, an increase of 6 percentage points from September. Meanwhile, those who believe that the president, parliament and the cabinet can solve this issue dropped by 6 percentage points to 20 percent.
If the referendum on the sale of land took place next Sunday, 55 percent of Ukrainians would vote against it, 21 would vote for the sale, with the rest being undecided or declining to participate. Of those who would vote, a formidable 72 percent would vote against. Reforming land sales have been a key promise of the Zelensky administration.
In terms of IMF cooperation, 44 percent of respondents believe that it benefits Ukraine, while 37 percent believe that it’s harmful.
