Zelenskyy and former commander-in-chief Zaluzhnyi lead in hypothetical presidential election – survey

If a presidential election were held in Ukraine, current President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and former commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi would receive the most votes in the first round, according to the results of a survey on Ukrainians' electoral preferences.

Source: the results of a survey conducted by Rating Group on 3-5 October 2026

Quote: "We asked respondents whom they would vote for in the first round of a hypothetical presidential election in Ukraine.

The top two by electoral support are Volodymyr Zelenskyy (22.9%) and Valerii Zaluzhnyi (20.2%)."

Details: The results showed that former president Petro Poroshenko (7.6%), former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov (7.6%) and President's Office chief Kyrylo Budanov (6.7%) followed.

Respondents also named Andrii Biletskyi (5.4%), Dmytro Razumkov (5.1%), Serhii Prytula (2.4%), Yuliia Tymoshenko (1.9%) and Yurii Boiko (1.4%).

Meanwhile, 4.5% of respondents would vote for another candidate, 5.2% would not take part in the election, and 9.2% chose "hard to say".

For reference: The survey was conducted on 3-5 October 2026 using computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) among 1,000 Ukrainians aged 18 and over.

Respondents were selected through a random sample of mobile phone numbers in all oblasts except for temporarily occupied territories and areas without Ukrainian mobile coverage at the time of the poll.

The results were weighted using current data from the State Statistics Service. The sample is representative by age, gender and type of settlement. The margin of error does not exceed 3.1 percentage points with a 95% confidence level.

Background: A recent survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology showed that more than half of Ukrainians believe Zelenskyy should not run for a second term in the next election.

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