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Where's Ukraine? 84 Percent of Americans Don't Know, Survey Says

The Washington Post asked a sample of 2,066 Americans what action the U.S. should take in Ukraine - and where Ukraine is located on a map.
Image: Men wearing military fatigues ride on an armored personnel carrier in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk
Men wearing military fatigues ride on an armored personnel carrier in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk on April 16, 2014. Russian leader Vladimir Putin warned that Ukraine is on the verge of civil war, the Kremlin said on April 16, after the Kiev government sent in troops against pro-Moscow separatists in the east of the country. GENYA SAVILOV / AFP - Getty Images

At the end of March, the Washington Post asked a sample of 2,066 Americans (fielded via Survey Sampling International) what action they wanted to take in Ukraine. In addition, the poll asked respondents to locate Ukraine on a map. How did it work? The Washington Post explains:

  • Survey respondents identified Ukraine by clicking on a high-resolution world map. We then created a distance metric by comparing the coordinates they provided with the actual location of Ukraine on the map.

What were the findings?

  • 1 in 6 Americans (16 percent) correctly located Ukraine, clicking within its borders.
  • Most thought Ukraine was located somewhere in Europe or Asia, but the median response was approximately 1,800 miles off.
  • 27 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds correctly identified Ukraine, compared with 14 percent of those 65 or older.
  • 20 percent of men correctly identified Ukraine, compared with 13 percent of women.

Click here to read more from The Washington Post about the poll, which found that the less people knew about Ukraine's location, the more they wanted to intervene militarily. (Click the map below to expand).

Ukraine Poll
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.Thomas Zeitzoff / The Monkey Cage / The Washington Post