Comedian, public figure and now leader of the Sluha Narodu (Servant of the People) Party Volodymyr Zelensky is still ahead of other presidential candidates in the 2019 race, according to a poll.
"Zelensky is in the lead among presidential candidates with 25.1% of all respondents willing to vote for him and those who intend to go to a polling station. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (16.6%) and leader of the Batkivshchyna Party Yulia Tymoshenko (16.2%) have almost equal chances to make it to the second round of the elections," according to the results of a survey conducted by the Rating sociological group and handed over to UNIAN.
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Head of the Opposition Bloc Yuriy Boyko would have scored 11.3% of votes, leader of the Hromadianska Pozytsia (Civil Position) Party Anatoliy Hrytsenko 7.7%, leader of the Radical Party Oleh Liashko 5.6%, Ukrainian MP and media mogul Yevgeniy Murayev 2.5%, and self-nominee Ihor Smeshko 2.5%.
Ukrainian MP from the UKROP Party Oleksandr Shevchenko, candidate from the Svoboda Party Ruslan Koshulynsky and MP from the Opposition Bloc Oleksandr Vilkul would gain almost 2% each.
"The ratings of Zelensky, Poroshenko and Boyko have increased for the last month. A slight decrease has occurred at the level of support for Tymoshenko. The electoral indicators of other candidates have not changed significantly. At the same time, the share of respondents who are undecided has significantly increased over the past month (from 15% to 25%)," sociologists said.
The results of the survey showed that Zelensky has better electoral positions among voters in the south and east, he is the leader of electoral ratings in the cities of Ukraine; Poroshenko is leading in the west of the country, and Tymoshenko has the best positions in the center, where she shares her first place with Zelensky.
"Zelensky and Tymoshenko have the highest potential for electoral growth (the so-called 'second choice') as 7% of voters are ready to support them, provided that their leaders do not participate in the elections. Poroshenko and Hrytsenko have 4% each," reads the report.
At the same time, 24% of respondents believe that Poroshenko will be the next president, 19% of respondents believe in Tymoshenko's victory, and 17% believe in Zelensky's victory.
"Confidence in the victory of Zelensky has significantly increased over the last month. Poroshenko's indicators also have positive dynamics in this ranking. Tymoshenko's indicators are at the level of December. At the same time, young people believe in the victory of Zelensky, while older people believe in the victory of Poroshenko and Tymoshenko," sociologists said.
At the same time, Poroshenko heads the anti-rating: almost half of the respondents said they would not vote for him under any circumstances.
"The simulation of the second round gave the following results: Tymoshenko ranks first in pairs with Poroshenko (31% versus 24%). At the same time, Zelensky ranks first in pairs with Poroshenko (42% versus 24%) and Tymoshenko (37% versus 24%)," according to the results.
In addition, the mobilization of voters has increased since the beginning of the year: almost 85% (versus 76% in December) of the respondents said they definitely or most likely intend to take part in the presidential elections in Ukraine. The high growth rate of those who intend to vote was recorded in the south and east of the country.
The poll was conducted on February 19-28 through personal formalized (face-to-face) interviews. The sample population is represented by age (18 and older), gender, type of settlement, and region. Some 2,500 respondents were interviewed. The margin of error does not exceed 2%.
