Trust in Zelenskyy slightly declines – Kyiv International Institute of Sociology

The level of trust in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has decreased by 4 percentage points compared to March but remains high – 58% of respondents trust the head of state.

Source: survey results by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), conducted on 20-27 April

Quote: "So, 58% now trust the president; 36% do not trust him (balance of trust-distrust - +22%). Compared to March 2026, the level of trust has slightly decreased. Thus, the share of those who trust Volodymyr Zelenskyy has decreased from 62% to 58%, and the share of those who do not trust him has increased from 32% to 36%. Accordingly, the balance of trust-distrust was +30% in March compared to +22% now."

Details: Among the 58% who trust Zelenskyy, 25% "fully" trust him, and 33% "rather" trust him. Among those who do not trust him, 18% "do not trust at all" and 18% "rather do not trust".

Sociologists also asked Ukrainians how they see Zelenskyy's future after the war.

A total of 28% of respondents said they would like to see Zelenskyy remain president after the war (compared to 25% in early October 2025). Another 16% (the same as previously) believe he could remain in politics as a party leader or member of parliament.

Meanwhile, 30% (down from 36% in October 2025) believe Zelenskyy should leave politics (and focus on charity work, promoting Ukraine's interests abroad or personal matters), while 15% think he should face criminal prosecution (unchanged since October 2025).

Notably, only among those who "fully" trust him does a majority (70%) want Zelenskyy to remain president. Among those who "rather" trust him, only 28% support Zelenskyy continuing in the role.

Meanwhile, among those who "rather" do not trust him, the majority (62%) believe he should leave politics, although relatively few (15%) insist on criminal prosecution. By contrast, among those who "do not trust at all", the majority (64%) support criminal prosecution.

Sociologists also selected 50 respondents who said they "do not trust at all" or "rather do not trust" Zelenskyy and asked them why.

A total of 40% of these respondents said their distrust has deeper roots, often dating back to 2022 or even 2019. Some cited specific reasons, such as the disengagement of troops.

Among other reasons, 32% said Zelenskyy has not ended the war, 28% said he failed to fulfil campaign promises, 20% pointed to corruption, 18% to personnel policy, 12% to incompetence, 10% to the activities of military enlistment offices/mobilisation, and another 10% to a decline in living standards.

The survey was conducted from 20 to 27 April. A total of 1,005 respondents living in all regions of Ukraine under government control were interviewed by telephone using a random sample of mobile numbers. Residents of territories temporarily not controlled by the Ukrainian authorities were not included (although some respondents are internally displaced persons from occupied territories), and citizens who left Ukraine after 24 February 2022 were not surveyed.

Under normal circumstances, the statistical margin of error of such a sample (with a probability of 0.95 and taking into account a design effect of 1.3) does not exceed 4.1% for indicators close to 50%, 3.5% for those close to 25%, 2.5% for those close to 10%, and 1.8% for those close to 5%.

In wartime conditions, in addition to the stated formal margin of error, there is a certain systematic deviation; however, sociologists believe the results still retain high representativeness and allow for a sufficiently reliable analysis of public sentiment.

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