The winner of the first round of Ukraine’s presidential election, comedic actor Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is increasing his lead over incumbent President Petro Poroshenko, the latest polling shows.
According to the results of a poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) released on April 16, 72.2 percent of respondents who plan to vote and who have made up their minds who to vote for will favor Zelenskiy.
Only 25.4 percent will vote for Poroshenko, while 2.4 percent said they would spoil their ballot.
In an earlier poll by the Rating sociological group published on April 11, Zelenskiy received 71.4 percent, and Poroshenko 28.6 percent.
The latest poll of 2,004 respondents across Ukraine was held by KIIS from April 9-14. Over half of those polled, 54 percent, said they would definitely vote in the runoff; 19 percent said they are likely to vote.
Some 57.2 percent of respondents believe that Zelenskiy will be elected as president, while 14.1 percent believe Poroshenko will win.
According to the poll, Zelenskiy leads in all regions of Ukraine.
In the west, where the president enjoys most support, Zelenskiy received 52.3 percent, while Poroshenko got 45.7 percent. In central Ukraine, 71.8 percent are for Zelenskiy, and 25.5 percent for Poroshenko. In southern Ukraine, 81.8 percent are for Zelenskiy, and 13.3 percent for Poroshenko. In the east, 87.3 percent are for Zelenskiy, and 12 percent for Poroshenko. In the Donbas, 91.4 percent are for Zelenskiy, and 4.9 percent are for Poroshenko.
Zelenskiy also leads among Ukrainian-speaking Ukrainians. According to the KIIS poll, half of the respondents identified themselves as Ukrainian-speaking ethnic Ukrainians; 20.6 percent said they were bilingual Ukrainians; 21 percent said they were Russian-speaking Ukrainians; and 4.7 percent called themselves ethnic Russians.
A total of 42.7 percent of the surveyed Ukrainian-speaking Ukrainians are going to vote for Zelenskiy, against 23.3 percent for Poroshenko.
Some 55.9 percent of the surveyed bilingual Ukrainians said they would vote for Zelenskiy, and 8.7 percent for Poroshenko. Over half of Russian-speaking Ukrainians (54.2 percent) said they would vote for Zelenskiy, and 11.6 percent for Poroshenko. And 48.4 percent of ethnic Russians say they will support Zelenskiy, and 14.7 percent Poroshenko.
In the first round of the vote on March 31, Zelenskiy won with 30.24 percent of the vote, while Poroshenko finished second at 15.95 percent.
Poroshenko and Zelenskiy are supposed to debate on April 19. In the meantime, 41.9 percent of KIIS poll respondents said a presidential debate is a must in the campaign. Another 26.7 percent said a debate would be good, but that it was not mandatory. Around a quarter, 24.7 percent, said a debate wasn’t necessary.
