Electoral preferences: former defence minister Fedorov nearly catches up with former commander-in-chief Zaluzhnyi – survey

In the first round of a hypothetical presidential election, 22.3% of Ukrainians would vote for incumbent President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, 14.9% for former commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi and 13.4% for Mykhailo Fedorov, whose dismissal as defence minister sparked a wave of protests.

Source: a survey conducted by the Rating sociological group on current socio-political issues on 20-21 July

Details: The sociologists noted that the survey had been completed before media reports emerged about Oleksandr Syrskyi's resignation as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

They also stressed that trust in Mykhailo Fedorov had risen from 35% to 65% over the past week, while trust in Oleksandr Syrskyi had fallen from 39% to 23%.

Respondents were asked, among other things, who they would vote for in the first round of a hypothetical Ukrainian presidential election.

The top three in terms of electoral support were Volodymyr Zelenskyy (22.3%), Valerii Zaluzhnyi (14.9%) and Mykhailo Fedorov (13.4%).

They were followed by Head of the President's Office Kyrylo Budanov (7.2%), boxer Oleksandr Usyk (5.9%), fifth president Petro Poroshenko (4.6%), Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov (4.3%), former speaker of Ukraine's parliament Dmytro Razumkov (3.7%) and 3rd Army Corps Commander Andrii Biletskyi (2.3%).

The two-time former prime minister Yuliia Tymoshenko received 1.7%, volunteer and former TV presenter Serhii Prytula 0.8% and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko 0.3%.

Meanwhile, 4% of respondents said they would vote for another candidate, 2.6% would not take part in the election, and the remaining 11.9% said they found it difficult to answer.

Respondents were also asked whether they trusted certain officials and political and public figures.

Valerii Zaluzhnyi had the highest level of trust (70%), followed by Mykhailo Fedorov (65%), Kyrylo Budanov (62%) and Volodymyr Zelenskyy (59%).

Oleksandr Usyk was trusted by 54% of Ukrainians, while Oleksandr Syrskyi was trusted by 23% and Petro Poroshenko by 21%.

For reference: The Rating survey was conducted on 20-21 July 2026 using CATI (Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing).

The sociologists surveyed 1,000 respondents aged 18 and over in all oblasts except the temporarily occupied territories and areas where Ukrainian mobile communications were unavailable at the time of the survey. The results were weighted using the latest data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine.

The sample is representative by age, gender and type of settlement, with a margin of error of no more than 3.1% at a 95% confidence level.

Background:

• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the dismissal of Oleksandr Syrskyi as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine after six days of protests and said that Mykhailo Drapatyi would be appointed to replace him.
• Syrskyi summed up his work and said that he was handing over to the new commander-in-chief, Mykhailo Drapatyi, an army that was on the offensive.
• According to Ukrainska Pravda sources, Zelenskyy offered Mykhailo Fedorov various options for remaining in government, including moving to the position of deputy prime minister for technological development, but Fedorov is opposed to this because he does not understand why he was dismissed from the Defence Ministry.

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