Study: 16% of Americans can locate Ukraine on a map

[Tender Branson]

The less Americans know about Ukraine’s location, the more they want U.S. to intervene

On March 28-31, 2014, we asked a national sample of 2,066 Americans (fielded via Survey Sampling International Inc. (SSI), what action they wanted the U.S. to take in Ukraine, but with a twist: In addition to measuring standard demographic characteristics and general foreign policy attitudes, we also asked our survey respondents to locate Ukraine on a map as part of a larger, ongoing project to study foreign policy knowledge. We wanted to see where Americans think Ukraine is and to learn if this knowledge (or lack thereof) is related to their foreign policy views. We found that only one out of six Americans can find Ukraine on a map, and that this lack of knowledge is related to preferences: The farther their guesses were from Ukraine’s actual location, the more they wanted the U.S.  to intervene with military force.



Where’s Ukraine? Each dot depicts the location where a U.S. survey respondent situated Ukraine; the dots are colored based on how far removed they are from the actual country, with the most accurate responses in red and the least accurate ones in blue. (Data: Survey Sampling International; Figure: Thomas Zeitzoff/The Monkey Cage)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/04/07/the-less-americans-know-about-ukraines-location-the-more-they-want-u-s-to-intervene

[Tender Branson]

Am I the only one who finds this worrying ?

And who are the people who think Ukraine is in the US ?

[Cory]

Jesus Christ please let most of these be jokes. I mean c'mon people thought the Ukraine was in Greenland?

[Tender Branson]

I also find it funny that none of these 2000 or so people thought Ukraine is where Mexico is.

Mexico probably has a high map recognition among Americans ...

[Zioneer]

People thought Ukraine was in Australia? Please let this be a joke.

[Franzl]

16%? More than I would have guessed, actually.

[Tender Branson]

16%? More than I would have guessed, actually.

Well, a 2006 study showed that only 37% of Americans could find Iraq on a blank map.

After 3 years of war there and mass media reporting ...

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

16%? More than I would have guessed, actually.

Me too.  I wouldn't have thought that many even heard of it.

[Simfan34]

A compelling case for popular determination of policy. A testament to the innate efficiency of democracy.

[Cory]

Things like this are why direct democracy doesn't work.

[Maxwell]

This isn't great, but let's be real, Geography sucks.

[Maxwell]

This isn't great, but let's be real, Geography sucks.

Real geography consists of more than memorizing place names, anyway.

Even worse then!

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Am I the only one who finds this worrying ?

And who are the people who think Ukraine is in the US ?

"So, where do you think Ukraine is located on the map?"
"Uhh... Alaska?"

[King]

I think we should count people who selected the Black Sea and Kazakhstan as hits, too, because honestly when it's black and white, both are the same shape as Ukraine and border Russia.

[SWE]

Are you telling me that Ukraine isn't located in Colorado?

[pbrower2a]

Some of the locations are the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, but those are near-misses by standards of the map. One preposterous spot was to the southeast of New Zealand, which is almost antipodal to Ukraine.

[Supersonic]

16%? More than I would have guessed, actually.

lol same.

[Maxwell]

Are you telling me that Ukraine isn't located in Colorado?

Well I mean, I remebered the 2000 Election was decided in the state of Ukraine

[Simfan34]

The real question is how will this affect the Lebanon primary?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The real question is how will this affect the Lebanon primary?

Not nearly as much as Voter IED laws affect the primary next door in Afghanistan. (Yes, I know Afghanistan doesn't border Lebanon.  That's part of the joke, tho the pun on Voter ID is intended to be the real blast.)

[dead0man]

I'm not really seeing the big deal here, looking at the map it seems most people were in the neighborhood.  I know "lol stupid 'mericans" is always fun, but sheesh, some of you seem to be stretching a bit here.

[Middle-aged Europe]

This correlation is actually more interesting:

We found that only one out of six Americans can find Ukraine on a map, and that this lack of knowledge is related to preferences: The farther their guesses were from Ukraine’s actual location, the more they wanted the U.S.  to intervene with military force.
[/i]

Seems like the default option when you don't know anything about the situation is simply to blow sh**t up.

[Joe Republic]

This isn't great, but let's be real, Geography sucks.

I'm not sure you're going to convince many people of that belief on a forum dedicated to political cartography.  More to the point, what are you even doing here if you think that way?

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

Ukraine?  That's a floating iceberg in Arctic Ocean, as some respondents seemed to have thought.

[TNF]

SHOCK: Most People Unaware of Information that has Little Effect on their Daily Life

In other news, bears sh**t in the woods.