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We have heard a good deal in recent years about the [#permalink]
 29 Jan 2008, 06:26
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We have heard a good deal in recent years about the declining importance of the two major political parties. It is the mass media, we are told, that decide the outcome of elections, not the power of the parties. But it is worth noting that no independent or third-party candidate has won any important election in recent years, and in the last nationwide campaign, the two major parties raised and spent more money than ever before in support of their candidates and platforms. It seems clear that reports of the imminent demise of the two-party system are premature at best.
1. Which of the following is an assumption made in the argument above?
(A) The amount of money raised and spent by a political party is one valid criterion for judging the influence of the party.
(B) A significant increase in the number of third-party candidates would be evidence of a decline in the importance of the two major parties.
(C) The two-party system has contributed significantly to the stability of the American political structure.
(D) The mass media tend to favor an independent or third-party candidate over a candidate from one of the two major parties.
(E) The mass media are relatively unimportant in deciding the outcome of most elections.
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Re: cr 1000 test c 1 [#permalink]
29 Jan 2008, 07:03
marcodonzelli wrote: We have heard a good deal in recent years about the declining importance of the two major political parties. It is the mass media, we are told, that decide the outcome of elections, not the power of the parties. But it is worth noting that no independent or third-party candidate has won any important election in recent years, and in the last nationwide campaign, the two major parties raised and spent more money than ever before in support of their candidates and platforms. It seems clear that reports of the imminent demise of the two-party system are premature at best.
1. Which of the following is an assumption made in the argument above?
(A) The amount of money raised and spent by a political party is one valid criterion for judging the influence of the party.
(B) A significant increase in the number of third-party candidates would be evidence of a decline in the importance of the two major parties.
(C) The two-party system has contributed significantly to the stability of the American political structure.
(D) The mass media tend to favor an independent or third-party candidate over a candidate from one of the two major parties.
(E) The mass media are relatively unimportant in deciding the outcome of most elections. A. I am in between A and D but finally select A that directly support the conclusion.
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Re: cr 1000 test c 1 [#permalink]
29 Jan 2008, 07:45
GMAT TIGER wrote: marcodonzelli wrote: We have heard a good deal in recent years about the declining importance of the two major political parties. It is the mass media, we are told, that decide the outcome of elections, not the power of the parties. But it is worth noting that no independent or third-party candidate has won any important election in recent years, and in the last nationwide campaign, the two major parties raised and spent more money than ever before in support of their candidates and platforms. It seems clear that reports of the imminent demise of the two-party system are premature at best.
1. Which of the following is an assumption made in the argument above?
(A) The amount of money raised and spent by a political party is one valid criterion for judging the influence of the party.
(B) A significant increase in the number of third-party candidates would be evidence of a decline in the importance of the two major parties.
(C) The two-party system has contributed significantly to the stability of the American political structure.
(D) The mass media tend to favor an independent or third-party candidate over a candidate from one of the two major parties.
(E) The mass media are relatively unimportant in deciding the outcome of most elections. A. I am in between A and D but finally select A that directly support the conclusion. explantion please
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Re: cr 1000 test c 1 [#permalink]
22 Apr 2010, 02:11
marcodonzelli wrote: We have heard a good deal in recent years about the declining importance of the two major political parties. It is the mass media, we are told, that decide the outcome of elections, not the power of the parties. But it is worth noting that no independent or third-party candidate has won any important election in recent years, and in the last nationwide campaign, the two major parties raised and spent more money than ever before in support of their candidates and platforms. It seems clear that reports of the imminent demise of the two-party system are premature at best.
1. Which of the following is an assumption made in the argument above?
(A) The amount of money raised and spent by a political party is one valid criterion for judging the influence of the party.
(B) A significant increase in the number of third-party candidates would be evidence of a decline in the importance of the two major parties.
(C) The two-party system has contributed significantly to the stability of the American political structure.
(D) The mass media tend to favor an independent or third-party candidate over a candidate from one of the two major parties.
(E) The mass media are relatively unimportant in deciding the outcome of most elections. I selected D but later I realised that A is correct. Reasons: 1. In the stimulus, it is mentioned that: we are told that power of parties doent decide the elections outcome rather mass media decides. 2. An example is given for weakness on 3rd party front. 3. An emphasis is made on campaign expenses ( raised and spent more money than ever before in support). 4. A contradiction is made for the mass media reports. So, we need to find a reason/assumption, which can show that the above contradiction is a valid one. Here, A fits better than D. In addition to this, D is wrong because there is no mention of FAVOR b/w parties by mass media in the above argument.
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Re: We have heard a good deal in recent years about the [#permalink]
01 Jan 2013, 10:58
A good explanation here: http://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/100 ... t1530.htmlQuote: My guess is that the author of this question lists A as the correct answer.
1) Some people think major parties aren't as influential.
2) Those people think the media is more influential than the parties.
3) But the two major parties have won all of the recent important elections.
4) And they have raised and spent even more money than they used to.
5) So we don't really have appropriate evidence to say that the two-party system is dying. (NOTE: it does NOT say that the two party system is thriving, that those people are wrong to say the media is influential, etc. It simply says "we don't have the evidence to support that contention yet.")
A) The argument offers sentence 4 as a premise to support the author's conclusion (sentence 5). So the author is assuming that money raised / spent is actually a valid criterion by which to judge the importance of the two-party system.
B) More people may run, but if they don't win, then the major parties aren't suffering a decline.
C) This may be true in general, but it does not answer the specific question - the argument doesn't address the stability (or lack thereof) of the American political structure
D) The author is likely assuming that the mass media does give airtime to independent or third-party candidates. This doesn't necessarily mean that the media favors those candidates at the expense of the major party candidates. If the media just treats them all the same, and the media is the most influential thing, then we would expect SOME ind. / 3rd party candidates to win, but the argument indicates that only the major candidates are winning the important elections.
E) Again, this may be true, or it might even be something we can conclude based upon the argument, but the question is what assumption is necessary to support the author's conclusion. We don't have to assume the media is relatively unimportant - the author's point is not to diminish the media's importance but to say that the the major parties are not declining in importance.
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Re: We have heard a good deal in recent years about the
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01 Jan 2013, 10:58
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