Ukrainians are warming to Donald Trump, with almost half saying they trust the President-elect with foreign policy and security decisions, a poll released Tuesday showed.
The survey of 1,000 respondents taken Nov. 15-27 and commissioned by the New Europe Center in Kyiv, a non-governmental organization, showed that 44.6% said they trust Trump. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points. A total of 47.2% of respondents said they did not trust Trump on foreign policy and security.
"Presumably, behind such a high level of support is the expectation from the new U.S. administration of a clearer and more decisive policy toward Ukraine," a translated version of the poll concluded. "It cannot be ruled out that some of the respondents pin certain hopes on the restoration of peace in Ukraine, which Trump emphasized during the election campaign."
The trust in Trump is higher that was revealed in a Pew Research poll in June, where countries such as Great Britain (30%), France (16%), Germany (15%), and Sweden (14%) showed little faith that Trump would do the right things regarding world affairs. Ukraine was not part of that poll.
The New Europe Center poll showed trust in President Joe Biden plunged 27 percentage points. Last year, Biden had a trust rating of 82%, but the latest poll showed it dropped to 55%. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz saw a drop of 24.5 points, from 61.4% last year to 36.9%. Last year, only 16% of respondents said they did not trust Biden, but that figure rose to 40% this year. Trump was not part of last year's poll.
"This reflects a rather skeptical general mood of Ukrainians in assessing the efforts of the international community [and the United States, in particular] to support Ukraine," the poll stated.
The poll showed that 1-in-4 of respondents said they were disappointed in leaders of the countries that provide the most assistance to Ukraine because they believe their decisions are "noticeably paralyzed by the fear" of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"But it also affects the dosed volumes, slow pace and types of assistance provided," the poll stated. "Therefore, it directly affects Ukraine's ability not only to liberate the occupied territories, but also to properly carry out defense."