Eight percent of respondents in the United States said they do not know who their country fought against in the Second World War and one in ten are convinced it was Russia, a poll conducted by the French Institute of Public Opinion, or IFOP, for Sputnik has found
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd June, 2020) Eight percent of respondents in the United States said they do not know who their country fought against in the Second World War and one in ten are convinced it was Russia, a poll conducted by the French Institute of Public Opinion, or IFOP, for Sputnik has found.
The poll was conducted in the United States from May 25-28 among 1,004 residents aged 18 and older.
Respondents were asked four questions: whether they know what day is marked on May 8; which country/countries did the US fight against during World War II; whether they have ever heard the term Holocaust; and what they believe is the meaning of the word Holocaust.
The majority of respondents 69 percent either did not know what day was marked on May 8 42 percent or gave a wrong answer 27 percent and only less than one-third of respondents 31 percent replied correctly, namely that it is when Victory in Europe Day is celebrated to mark the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945 and the subsequent end of World War II in Europe.
One in ten respondents 11 percent said they thought the US fought against Russia in the Second World War and another 5 percent said they believed it was against China. Given that this question was multiple choice with a possibility to check more than one option, 77 percent of respondents said the US fought against Germany, 67 percent named Japan, 9 percent checked the "Other" option and another 8 percent said they did not know.
Roughly one in ten respondents 12 percent said they did not know what the word Holocaust meant and another 25 percent gave incorrect answers, while 63 percent of respondents answered correctly.
The poll was conducted with a standard error of 3.1 percent and a confidence level of 95 percent.
The 1939-1945 Second World War is one of the bloodiest conflicts that has ever occurred and the deadliest in modern world history. Its period from 1941-1945 is referred to as the Great Patriotic War in Russia and other post-Soviet countries to mark when the Soviet Union joined the Allied fight against Nazi Germany. June 22 is observed annually in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine as Remembrance Day for the Great Patriotic War victims.
