Have you ever taken a statistics class? People can sway either participants or numbers to get the results you want. Most people I know, know where other countries, cities, states, etc are. You need to also take into account that we learn this stuff when we are in 6th grade...

I've done many papers where I can make points by "creatively" citing facts that apply to what I'm talking about. Just as long as you cite it...

In a speech class I took, you are required to debate an issue for ten minutes on the opposite of what you believe. We are required to find facts that state the OPPOSITE of what we believe to be true...

There was a show that used to be on regarding how "stupid" the general public was. I would imagine the reason for this show was that "educated" people would find it funny to see others that didn't know things that were considered general knowledge.