What do Americans think of Zelenskyy? What poll found as Trump calls him a ‘dictator’
President Donald Trump went on a tirade against Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, calling him “a dictator,” and ratcheting up tensions amid a diplomatic effort to bring the Ukraine-Russia war to an end.
In a Feb. 19 post on Truth Social, Trump said Zelenskyy “has done a terrible job” and that he dragged the U.S. into funding a war “that couldn’t be won, that never had to start…”
“A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left,” Trump added. “In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only ‘TRUMP,’ and the Trump Administration, can do.”
His comments come after the U.S. and Russia agreed to begin working to end the war in Ukraine, following high-level talks in Saudi Arabia, the Associated Press reported on Feb. 18.
Trump’s acerbic remarks also come after Zelenskyy accused him of falling for Russian disinformation.
But what do Americans make of Zelenskyy? Do they view him as unfavorably as Trump does?
Views on Zelenskyy
Though Americans are divided in their views on the Ukrainian president, a far larger share have a positive opinion than a negative one, according to a new YouGov/Economist poll.
In the poll — conducted Feb. 16-18 — 47% of respondents said they had a very or somewhat favorable view of Zelenskyy, while 28% said they had a very or somewhat unfavorable view. One-quarter, meanwhile, said they were not sure.
When broken down by partisan affiliation, there were significant differences in the responses.
Among Democrats, 65% had a favorable view, and just 14% had an unfavorable view. But Republicans were about evenly split, with 38% expressing a favorable view and 40% expressing an unfavorable one.
The partisan divide was more pronounced when the results were broken down by 2024 votes, according to the poll, which sampled 1,603 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points.
Seventy-four percent of voters for former Vice President Kamala Harris had a favorable view of Zelenskyy, and 12% had an unfavorable view. Meanwhile, 45% of Trump voters had a negative view, while 36% had a positive view.
The poll also asked respondents for their views on Russia President Vladimir Putin. Here, there was much more of a consensus.
Seventy-five percent of respondents said they had an unfavorable view toward Putin, while just 12% had a favorable view. Thirteen percent said they didn’t know.
Eighty-two percent of Democrats had a negative view, and 8% had a positive view. Meanwhile, 72% of GOP respondents had a negative view, while 18% had a positive one.
This story was originally published February 19, 2025 at 2:44 PM with the headline "What do Americans think of Zelenskyy? What poll found as Trump calls him a ‘dictator’."