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Ukrainian Leader’s Support Plunges to Least Since He Was Elected

Ukrainian Leader’s Support Plunges to Least Since He Was Elected

Support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy plummeted to the lowest since his election in spring 2019 amid a still-raging Covid-19 pandemic, little progress in achieving peace with Russia and disappointment at lackluster anti-corruption efforts.

Zelenskiy would get almost 32% backing if a presidential ballot were held in mid-September -- down from 38% in May, according to a poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, or KIIS. The phone survey was conducted Sept. 12-16 and has a margin of error of 1.4-2.2 percentage points.

Ukrainian Leader’s Support Plunges to Least Since He Was Elected

Voters rallied behind political novice Zelenskiy as a young leader who was untainted by Ukraine’s murky post-Soviet politics. Other pollsters even said his early approval ratings topped the sky-high scores that became normal for Vladimir Putin.

But he’s struggled to deliver on all of his campaign promises, with distractions including a starring role in President Donald Trump’s impeachment saga and the emergence of the coronavirus.

Despite the decline, Volodymyr Paniotto, KIIS’s head, said that Zelenskiy’s support is decreasing more slowly than that of past leaders, and that it remains above his result in the first round of last year’s election.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.