Only one in three US voters can locate Taiwan – or Ukraine
A survey conducted after Pelosi’s visit showed only 34% could point the island out on a map
Even though corporate media coverage of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan managed to reach 71% of the American electorate, a mere one in three were able to actually locate the island on a map of Asia, according to a Morning Consult survey published Thursday.
Pelosi visited Taiwan on August 2, as the media tracked her plane and reported on both her trip and Beijing’s furious response to it.
On August 6-7, during “heavy media coverage” of the trip, Morning Consult conducted a “survey experiment” among a representative sample of 2,005 registered US voters.
Only 34% of respondents were able to locate Taiwan – more or less accurately – on a blank map of Asia. Some 86% of them said they had heard “at least something” about Pelosi’s trip. Curiously, it was the same fraction of the American electorate that was able to identify Ukraine on a map in early February.
Those able to locate Taiwan were “significantly more likely” to have heard about China’s retaliation to Pelosi’s visit. More than 75% of them knew about the People’s Liberation Army launching missiles and sending jets to the Taiwan Strait, compared to 60% and 56% respectively among the overall electorate.
Comparing the August results to the survey taken in May, Morning Consult found that Pelosi’s visit barely moved the needle on Americans’ opinions when it came to Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China, however.
The number of those who would support sending Taiwan more intelligence, sending more US troops to Asia, and sending them to Taiwan in particular, all rose by two percentage points – but support for sending Taipei more US weapons dropped by the same amount. Establishing diplomatic relations with Taipei actually dropped by one percentage point.
Even though the Biden administration has officially committed to keeping the ‘One China’ policy, only 18% of American voters support recognizing Taiwan as part of China – with 51% now opposed, up from 49% in May. Morning Consult did note that the survey had an “unweighted margin of error” of plus or minus two percentage points, however.
Beijing considers Taiwan sovereign Chinese territory. Since 1949, the island has been ruled by nationalists who fled the mainland with US help, having lost the Chinese civil war to the Communists.
Pelosi visited Taiwan on August 2, as the media tracked her plane and reported on both her trip and Beijing’s furious response to it.
On August 6-7, during “heavy media coverage” of the trip, Morning Consult conducted a “survey experiment” among a representative sample of 2,005 registered US voters.
Only 34% of respondents were able to locate Taiwan – more or less accurately – on a blank map of Asia. Some 86% of them said they had heard “at least something” about Pelosi’s trip. Curiously, it was the same fraction of the American electorate that was able to identify Ukraine on a map in early February.
Those able to locate Taiwan were “significantly more likely” to have heard about China’s retaliation to Pelosi’s visit. More than 75% of them knew about the People’s Liberation Army launching missiles and sending jets to the Taiwan Strait, compared to 60% and 56% respectively among the overall electorate.
Comparing the August results to the survey taken in May, Morning Consult found that Pelosi’s visit barely moved the needle on Americans’ opinions when it came to Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China, however.
The number of those who would support sending Taiwan more intelligence, sending more US troops to Asia, and sending them to Taiwan in particular, all rose by two percentage points – but support for sending Taipei more US weapons dropped by the same amount. Establishing diplomatic relations with Taipei actually dropped by one percentage point.
Even though the Biden administration has officially committed to keeping the ‘One China’ policy, only 18% of American voters support recognizing Taiwan as part of China – with 51% now opposed, up from 49% in May. Morning Consult did note that the survey had an “unweighted margin of error” of plus or minus two percentage points, however.
Beijing considers Taiwan sovereign Chinese territory. Since 1949, the island has been ruled by nationalists who fled the mainland with US help, having lost the Chinese civil war to the Communists.
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.