Poll shows Zelensky’s approval rating rose after Trump attacks
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The findings suggest the effect of US attacks on Mr Zelensky's leadership has been to consolidate support for the president, researchers said.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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KYIV - An opinion poll published on March 7 showed an upswing in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s approval rating of 10 percentage points since US President Donald Trump called him a “dictator”.
The poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) found that 67 per cent of Ukrainians questioned said they trusted Mr Zelensky – up from 57 per cent a month earlier.
The latest poll was conducted between Feb 14 and March 4, a turbulent period for Mr Zelensky in which a simmering war of words with Mr Trump culminated in a dramatic clash at the White House
The findings suggest the effect of US attacks on his leadership has been to consolidate support for the president, researchers said.
“At least for now, we are witnessing a process of unification of society against the backdrop of new challenges facing Ukraine,” the institute’s executive director, Mr Anton Grushetsky, said in an analytical note.
He suggested Ukrainians perceived the rhetoric of Mr Trump’s team not just as a personal attack on Mr Zelensky but “an attack on all of Ukraine and all Ukrainians”.
Results were “quite similar” across the country, the pollsters said, although trust was slightly lower among those in the east at 60 per cent.
Nationwide, 29 per cent of respondents said they distrusted him.
According to the previous poll by the KIIS, released on Feb 19, 57 per cent of Ukrainians trusted Mr Zelensky and 37 per cent did not.
Mr Trump on Feb 18 claimed incorrectly that Mr Zelensky had just a “four per cent approval rating” and called for presidential elections
A day later, he branded Mr Zelensky a “dictator”
Mr Trump and Vice-President J.D. Vance then harangued Mr Zelensky in the Oval Office on Feb 28 and told him to leave, without signing a deal on rare minerals.
Mr Trump further moved against Ukraine on March 3, suspending military aid and prompting Mr Zelensky to call for a truce and say Ukraine was ready to sign the minerals deal.
The researchers behind the poll said the cancellation of military aid – announced as the survey was almost completed – was not fully reflected in the results and would “certainly affect the public mood”. AFP
