Ukrainians name Zelensky "politician of the year"

Ukrainians have named Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky politician of the year, the latest poll says.

The majority of respondents (46%) consider Zelensky tops the list, according to a nationwide survey conducted by Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation and Razumkov Center.

The runner-up is former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (7.5%, 16% in 2018), leader of the Batkivshchyna faction Yulia Tymoshenko (3%, last year 12%), chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Dmytro Razumkov (3%), co-chairman of the Opposition Platform - For Life faction Yuriy Boyko (3%, last year 4%), and chairman of the political council of the Opposition Platform - For Life Party Viktor Medvedchuk (2%). At the same time, 24% of the respondents did not name a single candidate, an UNIAN correspondent reported from a Kyiv briefing where the poll results were presented Thursday.

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According to the survey, 44% of citizens believe Ukraine is moving in the right direction, 36% said the opposite, while 20% could not answer. Sociologists compare that at the end of 2018, 70% considered the country's direction to be wrong and only 18% said it was right, while 12% could not answer the question.

Sociologists note the last time public praise of Ukraine's development prevailed after the presidential election in June 2005 (42% considered the country's direction to be right and 31% –wrong), while in November 2005 the opinion of citizens changed to the opposite (59% considered the county's direction to be wrong, and only 18% – right).

At the same time, as in the previous year, most citizens believe that in most areas of public life, the situation in Ukraine has worsened over the current year, although to a lesser extent than last year. According to the poll, the most negative changes in 2019 took place as regards prices and tariffs (61%), healthcare (46%), and social protection (44%).

At the same time, respondents noted an improvement in three areas: the country's defense capability (31% consider the changes to be for the better, 15% believe they make things worse, and 44% said there were no changes seen), Ukraine's international image (31%, 21%, and 38%, respectively), and interethnic relations (19%, 15%, and 54%).

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Some 29% of respondents believe the situation in the country in 2019 has changed for the worse, 14% claim the opposite, while 47% believe the situation has not changed. For comparison, sociologists cite data the estimates were much worse at the end of 2018: 67% believed the situation had changed for the worse, 5% claimed it had been for the better, and 22% said it had not changed.

The poll was conducted on December 13-18. The margin of error is no more than 2.3%.