Zelenskyy’s trust rating drops to 65% after steady growth - KIIS poll
The level of trust in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has dropped to 65%.
This is evidenced by a KIIS study, Censor.NET reports.
Sociologists note that the level of trust in the head of state has been growing steadily since December 2024 and reached 74% in early May 2025 (22% did not trust him).
At the same time, in the second half of May and early June 2025, a decline in trust was recorded, although the current figures remain higher than before the deterioration of relations with the new US leadership.
"Thus, according to the results of the current poll, 65% of Ukrainians trust V. Zelenskyy, while 30% do not. Accordingly, the balance of trust and distrust is +35%. These figures are lower than they were in early May 2025 (74% trusted, and the balance of trust and distrust was +52%), but remain higher than they were in early February 2025 (then 57% trusted, and the balance of trust and distrust was +20%)," the statement said.
Why Zelenskyy's trust rating has dropped
"We have no additional information on the specific reasons for the decline in trust. To do this, we need to conduct panel studies, when we interview the same people over a period of time and can ask them why their opinion has changed compared to the previous survey," the sociologists said.
However, the KIIS named several factors:
- weakening of the rallyaround-the-flag effect - since February 2025, amid deteriorating relations with the new US leadership, there has been a rather sharp increase in trust and unity;
- short-term impact of the signing of the Minerals Agreement - the previous poll (which recorded an increase in trust to 74%) was in early May 2025, immediately after the Agreement was signed. It may have caused a short-term surge of optimism and hope among some people, which was reflected in higher trust in the President;
- lack of progress in ending the war - some people may have had high expectations about the proximity of the end of the war, in particular due to the various negotiations that took place during May 2025;
- context of the questionnaire and questions - in the survey in early May 2025, sociologists asked about trust in 10 politicians. The politicians were read out in different order to different respondents. The analysis shows that the later "Volodymyr Zelenskyy" was read out, the higher the level of trust was.
The survey was conducted from 15 May to 3 June 2025 among 1,011 respondents.
Formally, under normal circumstances, the statistical error of such a sample (with a probability of 0.95 and taking into account the design effect of 1.3) did not exceed 4.1% for indicators close to 50%, 3.5% for indicators close to 25%, 2.5% for indicators close to 10%, and 1.8% for indicators close to 5%.
