Trump losing support of Ukrainians, but attitude toward USA remains positive – KSF survey

The balance of Ukrainians’ attitudes toward US President Donald Trump fell from minus 34.6% in September 2025 to minus 65.8% in April 2026, while the attitude toward the USA as a country among Ukrainian citizens remains positive, according to a sociological study commissioned by the Kyiv Security Forum (KSF) conducted on April 2-8.

Among those surveyed, 11% have a mostly positive attitude toward the US President, and 2.6% are entirely positive, while 31.9% are mostly negative and 47.5% are entirely negative.

Prior to this, the indicators fluctuated: in April-May 2025, the balance of positive/negative attitudes (the difference between the shares of those who are positive and those who are negative) was minus 55.6%; in February-March 2025, it was minus 59.3%; and in January 2024, before his second presidential term, it was minus 36.2%.

Ukrainians also have a negative balance of attitude toward the US President’s special envoy, Steven Witkoff, at minus 12.9%.

At the same time, the United States as a state maintains a positive attitude from Ukrainians, with a balance of +33.4% (47.1% mostly positive, 16.8% entirely positive).

Among all foreign leaders, the best balance of attitude among surveyed Ukrainians is for French President Emmanuel Macron at plus 51.8% (50.6% mostly positive, 18.9% entirely positive). In September 2025, the balance was even higher at +66.3%.

Next is the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, with a balance of +49.6% (45% of Ukrainians view her mostly positively, 18.6% entirely positively). Compared to September 2025, the figure has decreased slightly—then the balance was +56.4%.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu received a balance of +40.9% (38% of Ukrainians view her mostly positively, 13.2% entirely positively).

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has a balance of +39% (39.1% mostly positive, 13.7% entirely positive). Compared to September 2025, the positive attitude has decreased—then the balance was +52.7%.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz received a balance of +37.3% (40.7% mostly positive, 11.7% entirely positive).

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has a balance of +23.5% (24.9% mostly positive, 10.1% entirely positive). Compared to September 2025, the positive attitude toward Starmer has slightly worsened—then the balance was +29.8%.

Turkish President Recep Erdogan received a balance of +21.3% (41.2% view him mostly positively, 8.5% entirely positively).

Pope Leo XIV has a balance of +26.8% (36.9% mostly positive, 7.8% entirely positive).

Ukrainians have a negative balance of attitude toward Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (minus 36.4%) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (minus 11%).

The worst indicator among Western leaders belongs to Viktor Orban, who lost the parliamentary elections on April 12 and will soon leave his post. The balance of attitude toward him is minus 62.8%.

The worst attitude Ukrainians demonstrated among all foreign politicians was toward Vladimir Putin—a balance of minus 94.7%—and Alexander Lukashenko—a balance of minus 80%.

Chinese President Xi Jinping received a balance of minus 51.3%. Compared to September 2025, the indicator has risen—then the balance was minus 76.8%.

The full text of the study will be presented during the Kyiv Security Forum on April 23. The sociological survey was conducted by the Razumkov Center on behalf of the Kyiv Security Forum from April 2 to 8, 2026, using face-to-face interviews. 1,200 respondents aged 18 and older were surveyed in the Vinnytsia, Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Zakarpattia, Zaporizhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Ternopil, Kharkiv, Kherson, Khmelnytsky, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, and Chernivtsi regions and the city of Kyiv (only in those territories controlled by the Ukrainian government and where hostilities are not being conducted). The theoretical sampling error does not exceed 2.9%.