50% of Ukrainians think Zelensky failed to fulfill all or most pre-election promises, survey shows

Zelensky holds a phone call with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Jan. 29, 2024. (Volodymyr Zelensky / X)

Around 50% of Ukrainians think President Volodymyr Zelensky has failed to fulfill all or most of his pre-election promises, according to a survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) published on June 5.

Sociologists interviewed 1,002 respondents from all Ukrainian oblasts that are not under Russian occupation. The participants of the survey were asked to what extent Zelensky has fulfilled his pre-election promises during his five years in office.

Nearly 18% of the respondents think the president fulfilled most or all of his promises, with 5% saying he had fulfilled all of them.

About 19% of the respondents think that Zelensky fulfilled more than half of his promises, while 50% of the participants said that he failed to fulfill most or all his pre-election promises.

Around 25% of the survey's participants think that Ukraine's head of state has not fulfilled any promises.

"Dishonest and corrupt people in his team" was the top reason Zelensky failed to fulfill his promises, with around 50% citing it as the explanation.

Lack of competent people in the team (32%), Russia's full-scale invasion (31%), Zelensky's inexperience and lack of competence (27%), and the influence of oligarchs (26%) were among other popular answers.

Nearly 10% of the respondents said that the influence of other countries obstructed the president's activity, while 10% of the participants mentioned Ukrainian political opposition.

Around 14% of the respondents said that Zelensky's own corruption was the blame. Nearly 9% of the participants think that his promises were too unrealistic to be fulfilled.

In the open-ended questions section, respondents recalled the president's promises, such as ending the war in Donbas region, fighting corruption, and improving the welfare of the population, according to Anton Hrushetskyi, the executive director of the KIIS.

Repelling Russian aggression is considered to be Zelensky's main success, Hrushetskyi added, citing the results of the survey.

Hrushetskyi said the respondents mainly focused not on Zelensky but on his entourage. Most participants mentioned personnel policy as one of the main problems, along with corruption and the full-scale war.

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