Trump was dead wrong about Zelensky’s approval rating numbers

On February 18th, US President Donald Trump went off on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He claimed Zelensky was very unpopular and called for Ukraine to hold elections in response to Zelensky's negative reaction regarding US peace talks with Russia in Saudi Arabia. 

According to Newsweek, Trump claimed without providing any sources that Zelensky had an approval rating of 4% among Ukrainians and that the nation was in a situation where it hadn’t held any elections because it was under martial law. 

"We have a situation where we haven’t had elections in Ukraine, where we have martial law, where the leader in Ukraine, I hate to say it, but he’s down at 4% approval rating," Trump explained to reporters according to Euronews. 

Trump was correct that Ukraine opted to forego its elections which should have been held in March or April of 2024 due to the ongoing invasion of the country by Russia. However, he was wrong when he said that Zelensky had such a low approval rating in Ukraine. 

President Zelensky has proven to be a resoundingly popular political figure ever since Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The latest data from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology revealed where Zelensky stands with Ukrainians. 

According to survey data collected between February 4th and the 9th, Zelensky has an approval rating of 57% among Ukrainians. This was up from polling in December 2024 that showed the Ukrainian President had an approval rating of 52% at that time. 

Kyiv Post noted that Zelensky’s February 2025 approval numbers are far lower than the 90% approval rating he had in March 2022 at the beginning of the war. But it’s important to note that Zelensky's recent rating is far higher than Trump’s claimed figure. 

Only 7% of Ukrainians did not trust Zelensky in March 2022. That figure has risen over the years and now sits at 37% in February 2025. However, the poll revealed that there is still broad support for Zelensky’s leadership across Ukraine, Kyiv Post reported. 

Zelensky responded to Trump’s claims about his approval rating and said that Trump was quoting Russian disinformation.

“If someone wants to change me right now, it won’t work right now... if we are talking about 4%, then we have seen this disinformation, we understand that it comes from Russia, and we have evidence,” Zelensky said according to the Kyiv Post.

“Unfortunately, President Trump, with all due respect for him as the leader of a nation that we respect greatly ... is living in this disinformation space," Zelensky added. 

Euronews reported that polling from CBS News and YouGov from early February found that Trump’s overall job approval rating in office among American citizens sat at 53%. 

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