FLUNKING OUT

Fewer Than a Third of American Voters Can Point to Iran on a Map, Survey Shows

Asked to point to Iran on a map, respondents pointed to the Irish Sea, France, and even the United States.

Less than a third of registered American voters are able to correctly point to Iran on an unlabeled world map, a survey has shown. The disconcerting figure came from a new poll carried out by Morning Consult and Politico between Jan. 4-5, after the assassination of Qassam Soleimani but before the Iranian military fired missiles at two bases in Iraq housing U.S. troops. Just 28 percent of registered voters were able to accurately label Iran on a zoomed-in map of the Middle East and Europe, but that figure dropped to 23 percent when voters were asked to identify the country on a larger, also unlabeled, global map. A graphic showing respondents’ guesses showed that some believed Iran to be in Africa, others said it’s in France, and some thought it was in the Irish Sea. The global map even showed that some respondents think Iran is in the United States. The survey showed men were almost twice as likely as women to be able to identify Iran on both maps, and wealthier, more educated voters were also more likely to get it right. Political party and age were not decisive factors.