The comical cow survey result belongs to a tradition of pollsters posing the burning question: Just how dumb are the American people? Their findings are not reassuring.

Surprising numbers think that vaccines are not safe (45%); climate change is not real (20%); dinosaurs and people lived at the same time (14%); the moon landing was faked (7%); crystal healing has efficacy (6%); and the earth is flat (2%).

In a survey sponsored by the Annenberg Public Policy Center a few years ago, only 26% of Americans could name all three branches of the federal government; 33% could not think of one. Thirty-seven percent could not name a single right protected by the Bill of Rights. I guess you can add civics, geology, medicine, history, and climatology to the list of American educational deficiencies.

All of us have busy lives, incomplete knowledge, and diverse interests. If we don’t have the time or inclination to learn much about what goes on in Washington, D.C. (or in barnyards), that’s OK. But there are limits. At some point, the number and degree of poorly informed Americans raises a critical question. Can democracy prosper, or survive, if too many citizens lack common knowledge and common sense?

Today, roughly one-third of Americans, and two-thirds of Republicans, believe that Joe Biden “won” the 2020 election only because of widespread voter fraud. One in three Americans believe what the rest the country calls “the big lie.” This is not an argument about philosophical principles; those give political parties their purpose. It’s not a matter of opinion; democracy thrives on diverse ideas and deliberation about them. This is different from the normal disputes in American politics.

The stolen election believers are in brown cow/chocolate milk territory.

They reject the certifications of local officials who carefully counted, and often recounted, the 2020 ballots. They criticize the Republican Georgia election supervisors who stood firm against unwarranted (and perhaps illegal) presidential pressure in the aftermath of the count. And they dismiss the rulings of judges across the country who considered multiple allegations of voter fraud and found nothing of consequence.

Big lie believers don’t care that there is no credible evidence for their beliefs. They just believe.

They apparently think that the Democratic Party is so skillful that it can steal a national election without getting caught. Would that be the same Democratic Party that in 2016 couldn’t manage email passwords? The big lie believers also think that the Democrats who stealthily stole the presidency were so stupid that they couldn’t steal the U.S. Senate until two months after the general election. Does that make any sense?

Of course, some of the claims about 2020 give no credit to Democrats and instead suggest that the election was rigged by Italian intelligence officers, Chinese paper ballot counterfeiters or long-dead Latin American socialists. At least the cow people can correctly say that some milk and some milk-producing animals are brown. Those are unrelated observations, but they are true. Truth and the big lie never get that close together.

Some will say that we should excuse big lie supporters. After all, authoritative figures — a former president and Fox News commentators — actively promote voter fraud claims. Appeals to authority bolster controversial conclusions and maybe the blame belongs to Donald Trump, the Republicans who fail to call him out, and the conservative media that amplify his lies.

Trump is responsible for the big lie, but there is also a problem with the believers. They give credence to the fears that a poorly informed citizenry could someday destroy our democracy. A few tried to do exactly that on Jan. 6, and more disruptions and violence could occur in the weeks and months ahead.

In a democracy we cannot presume that there will never be dissemblers and demagogues in the public square. They will be there. We need to have faith that the people who rule in our system of government will — in due time, and with imperfect knowledge — see schemers and scoundrels for what they are and take a stand against them. That’s what happened in November 2020 when a clear majority of Americans rejected Donald Trump and chose Joe Biden as their next president.

Sore losers and liars — and their misinformed followers — may roam and rampage among us. But if judicial institutions, honest election officials and solid public majorities consistently reject the false claims of election fraud, the republic will survive. And chocolate milk will still be made from cocoa, sugar and the life-sustaining liquid produced by cows of many colors.