Americans are divided over the recent attack that killed Iran's top general, and they are divided about what steps the United States should take going forward. But despite the consequences of the attack and the possibility of war with Iran, most of them can agree that they have no idea WHERE IRAN REALLY IS!
Recent research, conducted just days after the attack but before Iran retaliated against US bases in Iraq, showed that only 23 percent of American voters correctly locate Iran on the map. When shown an enlarged map, with America, East Asia and Australia eliminated, 28 percent now found the country correctly.
A similar experiment was done in 2017, when Americans had to find North Korea, and in 2014, when they were asked to find Ukraine. The results were quite similar. It was quite disruptive in both surveys a positive correlation between not knowing where a country is located and favoring airstrikes or deploying US military forces to that territory.
While a recent study on Iran found no link between geographic knowledge and opinions about the attacks, it did reveal some other uncomfortable truths. So, for example, they also highly educated people struggled a lot when searching for Iran, and slightly less than half answered incorrectly. Geography is usually included in "social studies" in American high schools, and many teachers report that they spend little time on it. Also, after finishing high school, they no longer study geography, unless they decide to study.
How would you do on the test?
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