Comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy has for the first time taken the lead in a major presidential election opinion poll with 19 percent, according to a survey taken on Jan. 16-24 and released by Ukraine’s Rating Group on Jan. 31.
Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is second with 18.2 percent, and President Petro Poroshenko is third with 15.1 percent. These are percentages among those who are planning to vote and who have decided for whom they will vote.
In December, Tymoshenko was the leader with 16 percent, while Poroshenko and Zelensky were at 11 percent each among those who are going to vote, according to Rating Group.
Za Zhyttia (For Life) party candidate Yuriy Boyko, Civil Position party leader Anatoly Grytsenko, Radical Party leader Oleh Lyashko and Nashi (Ours) Party leader Yevgeny Murayev got 10 percent, 8.5 percent, 7 percent and 3.6 percent respectively. Boyko and Murayev are considered to be pro-Russian politicians.
Oleskandr Shevchenko, the CEO of the Bukovel ski resort, Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy, and Oleksandr Vilkul, a candidate for the pro-Russian Opposition Bloc, are trailing behind with 2.9 percent, 2.7 percent and 2.6 percent respectively.
According to a another poll released on Jan. 31 by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, the Razumkov Center and Socis, Zelenskiy is also the leader with 23 percent. Poroshenko and Tymoshenko got 16.4 percent and 15.7 percent, respectively, according to the poll.
Boyko, Grytsenko and Lyashko received 9.3 percent, 8.1 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively, the poll showed. Shevchenko, Sadovy, Murayev and Vilkul came last with 3.5 percent, 3.4 percent, 2.7 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively.
