In a national survey of 2,066 Americans, only 16 percent could identify Ukraine on a map — and the farther their guesses from the actual location of Ukraine, the more they wanted us to intervene with military force.
The survey was done by Survey Sampling International Inc. and appeared in The Washington Post.
Survey respondents identified Ukraine by clicking on a high-resolution world map, shown (below). We then created a distance metric by comparing the coordinates they provided with the actual location of Ukraine on the map.
The results are shocking. While the median respondent was approximately 1,800 miles off from Ukraine’s location, some weren’t even on the correct continent. And this is after two-thirds of Americans have said they follow the situation at least “somewhat closely.”
Take a look:
While we might be able to chalk up the Alaska dots for people being confused after Sarah Palin’s “call” to Vladimir Putin, we can’t explain Florida. Or South America. And while all of the dots on Africa are at least on the world, that doesn’t make much sense either.
