How many Americans think that Guam and Puerto Rico are separate countries from the United States?

[The Arizonan]

This question was inspired by another thread in this section of the forums.

[Old Man Willow]

Probably the majority, sadly.

[emailking]

It's semantics in a way.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Most.

[Rand]

Emerson recently asked 953 Americans whether Guam and Puerto Rico were U.S. territories, separate and individual countries, or Someone Else. These were the results:

42% - Separate countries
31% - U.S. Territories
19% - Someone Else
  8% - Undecided

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

I could see people who follow sports to be more likely to think of because they have their own Olympic and soccer teams.

There's also a lot of people who don't think New Mexico is part of the US.

[emailking]

^ that's an example right there of how it's ambiguous. What do we even mean by country.

The UK is supposedly 4 countries but that's not the way I think about it at all.

[Fight for Trump]

Yeah, it is clear Puerto Rico is a separate country. I think Guam is too small and corrupted by the US military to have a strong national identity, but I could be persuaded otherwise.

Both are colonial possessions of the US, not part of the US itself. The real stupidity is Americans who can't wrap their head around empire and how there are many relationships between full integration and separate sovereign states.

[Pres Mike]

Most Americans think Puerto Rico is a separate country

Most Americans have never heard of Guam

Most Americans are stupid

[Fuzzy Bear Loves Christian Missionaries]

To be fair, Puerto Rico fields a separate Olympic Team.  That is, traditionally, an accoutrement of an independent country.

[TDAS04]

Most.

New Mexico too.

[longtimelurker]

Cops (and others) in New Orleans and DC: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/15/us/hertz-puerto-rico-american-passport.html

The Southern Mississippi Univ. Band: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_jPiTogYGo

After the band incident occurred, I thought a perfect punishment for these students would have been to make them take a US geography course as well as a course on American Musical Theater in order to graduate.  EVERY American musician should know the line

"Nobody knows in America
Puerto Rico's in America"

I played saxophone - and Doc in our production of West Side Story - in high school.

[Roll Roons]

How about the Virgin Islands, Northern Marianas and American Samoa? How many people even know those places exist?

[EastwoodS]

Close to 90%

[emailking]

How about the Virgin Islands, Northern Marianas and American Samoa? How many people even know those places exist?

The only time I ever even hear of Northern Marianas is when we get their Presidential primary results.

[vitoNova]

At work, we have had 2 people return to Washington after tours-of-duty in the Northern Mariana Islands.

Which initially was surprising to me, because I had no clue DoD even had a presence there (Guam, of course, but not the Northern Mariana Islands).

Edit:  I am such a doofus.  I meant MARSHALL Islands, not Mariana Islands.   They both begin with the letter "M", are in the middle of the Pacific ocean, and I am completely unfamiliar with that part of the world.  So sue me.

[dead0man]

probably under half, the average American is often very bad at geography and civics.  I guess it's better that we let them vote, but I wonder sometimes.

but, ya know, the political status of PR and Guam are 100% irrelevant to the average American.  We shouldn't judge them too harshly for their ignorance here.  That "lesser evil' stupidity though...

[Neo-Malthusian Misanthrope]

Reminds me that the famous Animaniacs nations song makes exactly that mistake and includes both Puerto Rico and Guam as distinct countries.

[longtimelurker]

Reminds me that the famous Animaniacs nations song makes exactly that mistake and includes both Puerto Rico and Guam as distinct countries.

West Side Story > Animaniacs

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

Most Americans have probably never heard of Guam (unless they're in the military and/or pay attention to presidential primaries).

When it comes to Puerto Rico, I don't have a solid basis for this, but I would say that it's 50/50. 50% know that Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, and the other half don't.

However, Puerto Rico is obviously much closer socially and culturally to the rest of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean (primarily Cuba and the DR) than it is to the mainland US.

Also, in international sports, PR competes separately from Team USA.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Once we get Filibuster proof Trifecta PR and DC STATEHOOD, yes DC STATEHOOD not necessarily PR will pass this SCOTUS LOOK AT AL REDISTRICTING

[The Arizonan]

I have met an alarming number of people who think that Alaska is a separate country from the United States so I'm sure the numbers for Puerto Rico and Guam are much worse.

That is shocking. Do they not teach geography in public schools anymore?

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

In a sense, they are, in a vein comparable--but not similar--to, say, Wales, Xinjiang, or an SSR.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

That is shocking. Do they not teach geography in public schools anymore?

Geography is very much still taught in public schools.

The fact of the matter is:

1) Most people don't care about geography much or at all.

2) Many people are just simply stupid.