Morning Consult just published a poll illustrating the obvious: Very few registered voters understand our basic diplomatic relations, and even fewer know basic geography.
In other words, people who can’t locate Iran on a map probably shouldn’t be weighing in on foreign policy generally.
Of 1,995 registered voters polled, just 464, or 23%, could correctly locate Iran on a world map. Only 28% could do so on a cropped map. On the smaller map, respondents located Iran in Africa, Russia, and even as far away as the Iberian peninsula. On the world map, respondents — once again, this included only registered voters — located Iran in the United States, Brazil, and Australia.
The polling that followed proved that intelligence isn’t partisan, but it absolutely does inform foreign policy.
Both the correct and incorrect world map guessers shared partisan political opinions in equal measure. For instance, 40% of both correct and incorrect guessers believe that the country is on the right track. Opinions about President Trump and various issues mirrored each other — 38% of people who found Iran on a map trust Democrats in Congress more than Republicans on the economy, compared to and 39% of those who couldn’t find it. And 45% of the geographically literate trusted Republicans more, compared to 43% of the geographically illiterate.
On the other hand, on questions of foreign policy, opinions diverged sharply between those who can and cannot find Iran on a map. Seven in 10 of the correct guessers rightly listed France and Germany as allies, compared to barely half of the incorrect guessers. Nearly nine in 10 correct guessers listed the United Kingdom as an ally as opposed to two-thirds of incorrect guessers.
The incorrect guessers were also overwhelmingly more favorable to American enemies. More than one-third of incorrect guessers listed China as either an ally or friendly nation. Only one-quarter of correct guessers made that mistake. A mere 61% of incorrect guessers listed North Korea as an enemy as opposed to 73% of correct guessers. Neither group was markedly more likely to list Russia as friendly, but nearly 10% more correct guessers were willing to deem it an outright enemy.
Unsurprisingly, 77% of correct guessers deemed Iran an enemy as opposed to just two-thirds of incorrect guessers.
Correct guessers were also more likely to agree with the assertion that the U.S. “needs to be involved in foreign conflicts to support our allies, fight terrorism and maintain our foreign policy interests” — by a 7-point margin over incorrect guessers. And crucially, 51% of those who could find Iran on a map supported the strike against Gen. Qassem Soleimani — a position taken by only 45% of incorrect guessers.
Predictably, this is all because correct guessers are simply more informed in general. Whereas two-thirds of correct guessers reported hearing “a lot” about the Soleimani strike, just 44% of incorrect guessers said the same.
I should add that the most significant demographic factor in determining accuracy was not income, political affiliation, race, or religion. It was gender. Men were twice as likely to find Iran on a map. This was true among Democrats, Republicans, and independents.
Uninformed and unintelligent voters don’t vote more “correctly” on political issues no matter which perspective you’re coming from. But the polling makes it clear that if you can’t even point out one of the most geographically distinct nations on the planet on a map, you probably shouldn’t weigh in on foreign policy.
