Global trust in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to do the right thing has declined across a broad group of countries, including Europe, according to a Pew survey published Tuesday.
The findings contrast with a slight improvement in global opinion towards Russian President Vladimir Putin, particularly among young people, although overall trust in the Russian leader remains low.
The Pew survey highlights how support for Ukraine is declining among its Western allies and that efforts to isolate Putin are faltering two years after the war began.
And the poll comes just before President Biden hosts the NATO summit in Washington that will mark the alliance’s 75th anniversary, during which continued support for Ukraine will be high on the agenda.
Respondents were also asked about their opinion of NATO, whose median opinion views the alliance favorably, but which has declined in the US, Spain, the UK and Sweden – which only became a member in March.
More than 44,000 people in 36 countries were interviewed, across North and South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Overall, an average of 46 percent of respondents did not trust Zelensky to do the right thing, compared to 40 percent who said they did.
“We only started asking about him since the war broke out in 2022, and then he received a lot of favor or trust,” said Moira Fagan, a research associate at the Pew Research Center who specializes in international polling.
“But it has since declined, and in many cases of European allies, trust in Zelensky has declined significantly over the past year.”
Poland showed the most drastic decline in its opinion towards Zelensky and Ukraine, a reflection of the tensions that have arisen between Warsaw and Kiev over trade and border disputes. Poland also hosts between one million and two million Ukrainian refugees.
The Pew survey found that smaller but significant decreases in trust in Zelensky also occurred in Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden and the US.
Fagan said one possible explanation is fatigue in some of these countries, linked to responses from some interviewees that they consider their countries’ support for Ukraine to be “enough” or “too much.” These responses also reflect growing partisan gaps in opinions regarding support for Ukraine, with conservatives and those who identify as right-wing more critical of assistance to Kiev.
“We also know that people who support right-wing populist parties are less likely to express confidence in Zelensky than people who do not support right-wing populist parties in Europe,” Fagan continued, pointing to the growing success of these parties in Europe. the recent European parliamentary elections are linked to the attitudes reflected in the survey.
Previous Pew findings concluded that among American respondents there is a strong divide between Republicans and Democrats over support for Ukraine, reflecting criticism from Republican lawmakers who oppose U.S. military and economic support for Ukraine.
Among respondents to a survey conducted in May, 49% of Republicans and those who lean Republican say the US is too supportive of Ukraine; compared to 16 percent of Democrats or Democratic-leaners.
“This is something that we see huge partisan divisions over in the United States and those partisan divisions are also increasing, especially when it comes to support for Ukraine,” Fagan said.
On the other hand, although a median of 65 percent of respondents have a negative view of Putin since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, views have “slightly improved” in several countries, the survey authors wrote.
In most countries surveyed, younger adults are more likely than older ones to have a favorable opinion of Russia, the authors wrote. In Peru, for example, 63% of adults under 35 have a positive opinion of Russia, compared to 31% of adults aged 50 and over.
In Germany, trust in Putin has increased by nine points and favorable views towards Russia have increased by 5 points since 2023, they wrote. Argentines also recorded a more favorable view of Russia, an increase of 11 points and nine more points of trust in Putin over the past year.
“Growing shares of right-wing populists trust Putin in several countries, including France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom,” the survey authors wrote.
Still, much of the world remains largely negative toward Russia and Putin, Fagan explained, and categorized the changes as “modest overall.”
“Opinions about Putin and Russia, as if they were a pair, are still much more negative than positive around the world. There is also some regional variation, where there is more negativity in Europe, a little more favorability in parts of Asia-Pacific, in Latin America, for example.”
Attitudes toward NATO are generally positive across much of the world, the survey found, with surprising increases recorded in Turkey and Hungary, Fagan added.
“Turkey in particular, which is a country that has historically not been very supportive of NATO, the favorability has doubled since the last Turkey poll in 2019,” she said.
Forty-two percent in Turkey approve of NATO, compared to 21 percent in 2019 (the survey was suspended during the pandemic).
And Hungary has also shown an increasingly positive view of NATO, with more than eight in 10 adults saying the alliance is important to their country’s security. This may seem contrary to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s antagonism towards Europe and Ukraine, and support for Putin and former President Trump, who threatened to leave NATO.
“What is impressive is that they [Hungary] has grown statistically significantly more favorable to NATO over the past year,” Fagan said.
“Looking at the context of war contributions, Hungary ranked last among all 13 NATO member countries we analyzed in terms of relative contribution to the Ukrainian war effort, but they do not view the organization very unfavorably. So it’s an interesting balance.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
