Ukraine is moving in the wrong direction, according to more than half of the country's citizens.

These results were shown by a survey conducted by the Socis Center for Social and Marketing Research.

The respondents were asked to answer the question: "Generally speaking, do you think that events in Ukraine are developing in the right or wrong direction?"

As a result, 62.4% of the study participants answered that events were developing in the wrong direction.

The opposite opinion was expressed by 26.4% of the respondents.

The rest were undecided about the answer or refused to answer.

The study was conducted from June 25 to June 30 among citizens over 18 years old in all regions of Ukraine, with the exception of the self-proclaimed republics of Donbass.

2 thousand respondents took part in the telephone survey, the statistical error does not exceed 2.4%.

  • globallookpress.com

  • © Mykola Tys

The study participants were also asked to answer the question, what emotions they feel in relation to the current government in Ukraine.

42.3% of survey participants expressed their disappointment with the authorities, 22.3% expressed hope, 16.7% of respondents felt anxiety, and 8.8% felt despair at all at the thought of the current leadership of Ukraine.

At the same time, only 1.5% of survey participants are proud of their power.

The respondents also answered the question of how the situation in the country has changed under Vladimir Zelensky.

According to 58.8% of citizens, the standard of living has decreased recently, from the point of view of 7.2% of respondents - it has increased.

At the same time, the situation in the economy has become worse - this is the opinion of 52.2% of survey participants.

For 9% of citizens, the economic situation of Ukraine has improved under Zelensky.

A similar survey was conducted at the beginning of 2021 by the Ukrainian Sociological Group.

The study took place from January 26 to February 2, 2021.

Then the poll showed that 47.3% of Ukrainians believe that the situation in the country is unambiguously developing in the wrong direction, 29.2% said that the country is moving rather in the wrong direction.

Only 3.9% of respondents unambiguously approved the current course of Ukraine, 13.8% rather approve.

"Turned out to be the worst copy of Poroshenko"

Residents of Ukraine negatively assess not only the course of the country, but also the actions of the head of state.

We will remind, in the spring of 2019, Vladimir Zelensky won the presidential election, gaining 73.22% of the vote in the second round.

During the first months of the presidency, the politician managed to maintain the credit of popular confidence - in September 2019, 71% of citizens approved of Zelensky's actions.

These results were obtained based on the results of a poll conducted by the "Rating" group.

In addition, 55% of respondents then agreed with the statement that the country is moving in the right direction.

However, Zelenskiy's rating soon began to decline.

By the end of 2019, only 52% of citizens trusted him - such statistics were presented by KIIS (Kiev International Institute of Sociology).

  • 2019 presidential elections in Ukraine

  • © REUTERS / Gleb Garanich

According to the results of the same KIIS, by the summer of 2020, the rating of sympathy of the President of Ukraine dropped below 40%. 

Now, a year later, in June 2021, 23% of voters expressed their readiness to vote for Volodymyr Zelensky in the event of an election.

The corresponding results were also published by KIIS.

According to the results of the study, Petro Poroshenko received 13% of potential votes, Yulia Tymoshenko took third place in the rating with 9.5%, and the fourth went to Yuriy Boyko - 8% of voters were ready to vote for him at the beginning of the summer.

The poll was conducted from June 1 to June 7 among 2003 respondents over 18 years old.

According to political scientist and economist Alexander Dudchak, Volodymyr Zelenskyy lost his rating when voters saw that the policy pursued by the politician did not differ much from that of Petro Poroshenko.

“Zelensky turned out to be not just a copy of Poroshenko, but even a worse copy.

Nobody expected this.

The only reason Zelenskiy still manages to lead the rating of Ukrainian politicians is due to the fact that the rest are even worse.

For example, Poroshenko and Tymoshenko finally discredited themselves when they were in power.

Zelensky is still in the process of doing this, "the expert noted in a commentary on RT.

In the land of broken promises

According to analysts, from the beginning of his political career, Vladimir Zelensky has actively resorted to populism, making sometimes dubious decisions and laws.

“Vladimir Zelensky from the very beginning gave the impression of a populist.

And many people understood this, but still voted for him, just in opposition to Petro Poroshenko.

But how did it happen that the populist politician began to lose popularity?

The point is that populism can be used, but only for a short time.

People do not need fairy tales, but real changes, because noodles that hang on their ears cannot be put on a plate, ”explained Alexander Dudchak.

So, at the suggestion of the ex-showman in 2019, parliamentary immunity was abolished in the country - one of the key conditions for the separation of the branches of power.

As the experts noted then, as a result, the president was able to put pressure on the Rada.

At the same time, this idea was widely supported by the population of Ukraine.

  • Military in Donbass

  • © REUTERS / Oleksandr Klymenko

Analysts call Zelensky's de-oligarchization campaign no less populist.

Recall that at the beginning of June 2021, Zelensky submitted to the Rada a bill "On the prevention of threats to national security associated with the excessive influence of persons with significant economic or political weight in public life (oligarchs)."

However, this time the majority of Ukrainians were skeptical about the president's initiative.

According to the Socis Center, 35.7% of respondents assessed these actions of the authorities as a populist step aimed at increasing their own rating.

Another 12.9% of respondents said that in this way Zelensky and his entourage themselves want to become oligarchs by redistributing property.

The same poll showed that 50.1% of Ukrainians believe that Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not fulfill the promises made to them during the elections.

At the same time, 66.5% are sure that the authorities have failed in the fight against poverty, and 55.3% of the survey participants called the current Ukrainian government unprofessional and amateurish.

Only 12.9% believe that Zelenskiy was able to assemble a competent management team.

The survey was conducted from May 28 to June 3, 2021. 

According to experts, Volodymyr Zelenskyy disappointed voters by not fulfilling his campaign promises.

Initially, the politician gave too generous advances to the electorate, talking about radical changes if elected to the presidency.

However, in practice, the situation in many areas has only worsened.

“First of all, Zelensky's main promise - to achieve peace in Donbass - has not been fulfilled.

Zelensky's team did not improve relations with Russia either.

There are no positive changes in the economy either: industry is degrading, and the level of production continues to fall.

So the disappointment of the population has a real basis, "said Vladimir Zharikhin, deputy director of the Institute of CIS Countries, in a commentary on RT.

  • Vladimir Zelensky

  • © REUTERS / Gleb Garanich

Alexander Dudchak adheres to a similar point of view.

The expert agrees that the main reason for Zelensky's disappointment was his inability to at least bring a settlement to the conflict in Donbass closer.

According to Dudchak, disappointment was also brought about by the Russophobic policy that the new president began to pursue - under him, the rights of the Russian-speaking population are curtailed even more than under Petro Poroshenko.

“Everyone expected from Zelensky the restoration of normal relations with Russia, the end of the war in Donbass. And it was possible to do it, but it did not happen. Relations with Moscow have only gotten worse, and there is a complete impasse in the issue of the Donbas settlement. And this, in turn, hinders the economic recovery of Ukraine, ”the expert summed up.