Zelenskyy leads presidential rating; Budanov would win in his absence – Socis poll

Incumbent President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the United Kingdom, former Commander-in-Chief of the AFU Valeriy Zaluzhny, lead the presidential rating in the country: if presidential elections were held next Sunday, 22.6% and 19.3% of voters respectively would vote for them, according to the results of a sociological study by the Socis company conducted March 12–18.

Among those who have decided and would go to the polls, 29.3% would vote for Zelenskyy and 25% for Zaluzhny.

In third place is the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, for whom 10.5% of all respondents and 13.7% of those who have decided are ready to vote. In fourth place is People’s Deputy of Ukraine and leader of the "European Solidarity" party Petro Poroshenko, for whom 5.7% of respondents or 7.4% of those who have decided would vote.

Following in the rating are Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov, non-affiliated MP Dmytro Razumkov, and Commander of the 3rd Army Corps Andriy Biletsky, for whom 3.1-3.4% of respondents or 4-4.4% of those who have decided are ready to vote. In eighth place is People’s Deputy and leader of the Batkivshchyna All-Ukrainian Union Yulia Tymoshenko, for whom 2.2% of respondents or 2.9% of those who have decided would vote.

Volunteer and public figure Serhiy Prytula and Head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration Vitaliy Kim would receive between 1% and 2% of the vote. Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko and Head of the Defense Council of Kryvyi Rih Oleksandr Vilkul would receive less than 1%, while other candidates combined account for 3.6%.

6.7% of respondents do not intend to participate in the elections, and 16.2% are undecided.

At the same time, if a respondent’s first-choice candidate were not on the list, a relative majority—22.7%—would vote for Budanov, while Zaluzhny would receive 17.5% of the votes.

In the case of a "second choice," Zelenskyy would be in third place, supported by 6.3% of respondents. Terekhov would be supported by 5.1%, Poroshenko by 4.9%, and Biletsky by 4.3%. In such a scenario, 2.2% would refuse to participate in the elections.

A total of 1,204 respondents were interviewed for the study using a quota stratified sample across all government-controlled territories of Ukraine. The research method was face-to-face personal interviews using tablets (CAPI). The statistical margin of error (confidence interval) is ±2.5%.