Ukrainians name Politician 2021, Disappointment 2021 in poll

29.12.2021 14:40

Ukrinform

According to a nationwide survey conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation along with Razumkov Center, most respondents have named President Volodymyr Zelensky Politician of the Year, as well as Disappointments of the Year.

This was announced by Petro Burkovsky, an analyst with the Ilko Kucheriv Foundation for Democratic Initiatives, who spoke at a press conference hosted by Ukrinform.

Burkovsky explained that this year the respondents were asked a series of open questions, meaning they were not offered answer options.

“For the second year in a row, President Volodymyr Zelensky is on the top of the rankings as both Politician of the Year and Disappointment of the Year. However, I must say that in 2020 this nomination was called ‘Loser of the Year.’ That is, this year 17% of respondents named the President of Ukraine Politician of the Year and 45% called him ‘Disappointment of the Year,’” said Burkovsky.

Comparing the poll’s results with last year’s, in both categories there are more respondents who call the President of Ukraine "Politician of the Year," but also much more those who called him out as "Disappointment."

"If last year the President was the loser of the year 28%, this year 46% referred to him as this year’s disappointment," said the expert.

At the same time, the second position in the "Politician of the Year" nomination is shared by the fifth President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, and the former Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Dmytro Razumkov with 8% each.

In the "disappointment of the year" nomination, the fifth president of Ukraine was mentioned more often (8.5%), while Dmytro Razumkov ranked third with 3%, the expert emphasized.

Burkovsky noted that almost 15% of those polled said they believed no one was worth the title “politician of the year,” 20% were hesitant to answer, and 5% chose not to respond.

According to the poll, among the politicians mentioned by more than 1% of respondents as "politician of the year" and as "disappointment of the year" were: Yulia Tymoshenko (4.4% and 1.5%, respectively) and Viktor Medvedchuk (1.2% and 3.2%). Vitali Klitschko was mentioned in both nominations by 1.1% of respondents.

At the same time, among the politicians mentioned only as "politician of the year" were: Yuriy Boyko (3.7%), Yevhen Muraev (3.4%), Ihor Smeshko (1.8%), Volodymyr Groysman (1.4%), and Serhiy Prytula (1%).

A nationwide survey was run by the Ilko Kucheriv Foundation for Democratic Initiatives together with the Razumkov Center Sociological Service on December 17-22, 2021, in all regions of Ukraine except Crimea and the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The poll covered 2,018 respondents aged 18 and older. The sampling error is within 2.3%.