More than half of Ukrainians oppose another term for Zelenskyy, poll finds

A new public opinion poll in Ukraine indicates that a majority of citizens oppose President Volodymyr Zelenskyy running for re-election.

According to the poll published yesterday by the SOCIS Center, 51.3% of participants stated they do not support Zelenskyy’s candidacy. The proportion of those who want Zelenskyy to participate in the election was 35.5%, while 13.3% were undecided.

Of those polled, 60.5% support holding a presidential election in Ukraine, while 29.1% are opposed.

The research found that 30.1% of respondents would vote for Zelenskyy in a potential election.

The proportion preferring the former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, was 28.9%. Former President Petro Poroshenko ranked third with 7.2%.

The poll was conducted through face-to-face interviews with 2,000 people between October 10-16 and has a margin of error of 2.6%.

Zelenskyy’s presidential term ended on May 20, 2024. However, new elections were postponed due to the ongoing martial law and general mobilization in the country.

Trump’s peace plan is losing support among his own supporters

As political debates continue in Ukraine, the Ukraine policies of former President Donald Trump are being publicly discussed in the US, one of the war’s most important international allies.

A poll conducted by The Economist/YouGov between November 28 and December 1 revealed that a large portion of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the Russia-Ukraine war. This disapproval is even stronger among those who learn the details of Trump’s peace plan.

According to the poll, most Americans either know very little (28%) or nothing at all (43%) about Donald Trump’s proposed Russia-Ukraine peace plan.

As part of the research, a randomly selected group of participants was informed of several elements of the plan. These included limiting the Ukrainian army to 600,000 soldiers, preventing Ukraine from joining NATO, investing $100 billion from frozen Russian assets into Ukraine, and requiring Ukraine to withdraw from Donetsk and accept the region as part of the Russian Federation.

Among participants who were shown the plan’s content, approval of Trump’s performance on the Russia-Ukraine issue was lower compared to those who were not.

Support for Trump dropped significantly among Republicans who learned the details of the plan. The net approval rating for Trump’s policies among Republicans who did not see the plan was +57, whereas it fell to +38 for those who were informed of its contents.

The difference was even more striking among Republicans who were previously unaware of the plan. In this group, the net approval rating plummeted from +29 to +1 after learning about the plan.

Majority of Americans consider the war important for “national security”

In the poll, 42% of Americans said they believe Trump supports Russia more in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Another 12% believe he supports Ukraine, while 22% stated he is neutral.

Nevertheless, 56% of Americans view the Russia-Ukraine war as either “very important” (29%) or “somewhat important” (27%) for US national security.

On this issue, Democrats (67%) consider the war more important than Republicans (54%) and independents (51%).