ganand
Which of the following most logically completes the passage?
According to the last pre-election poll in Whippleton, most voters believe that the three problems government needs to address, in order of importance, are pollution, crime, and unemployment. Yet in the election, candidates from parties perceived as strongly against pollution were defeated, while those elected were all from parties with a history of opposing legislation designed to reduce pollution. These results should not be taken to indicate that the poll was inaccurate, however, since __________.
(A) some voters in Whippleton do not believe that pollution needs to be reduced
(B) every candidate who was defeated had a strong antipollution record
(C) there were no issues other than crime, unemployment, and pollution on which the candidates had significant differences of opinion
(D) all the candidates who were elected were perceived as being stronger against both crime and unemployment than the candidates who were defeated
(E) many of the people who voted in the election refused to participate in the poll
Whippleton Poll
Step 1: Identify the Question
This is a fill in the blank question. The word since before the blank indicates you are asked to support the preceding conclusion, so this is a Strengthen the Argument question.
Step 2: Deconstruct the Argument
Voter issues based on poll:
1) Pollution
2) Crime
3) Unemp
But anti-pollut party lost
© Poll not wrong
The conclusion of the argument includes a double negative, which can make things a little confusing; election results do not indicate that the poll was inaccurate. In other words, even given the election results, the poll could be accurate
Step 3: Pause and State the Goal
On Strengthen questions, the goal is to find an answer that supports the conclusion. In this case, you are looking for information that supports the accuracy of the poll, which found pollution to be the most important problem, in the face of election results in which the anti-pollution party lost.
Step 4: Work from Wrong to Right
(A) If anything, this information suggests the poll may not be accurate because some voters do not care about pollution. Additionally, the poll provides results for most voters, so some voters could still believe pollution was unimportant even if most believe it is the highest priority.
(B) This information could actually lead to questioning the accuracy of the poll. One explanation for the election results could have been that the particular candidates from the anti-pollution party were not strongly anti-pollution themselves. This answer excludes that possibility.
(C) This answer does not speak to the accuracy of the poll because other issues are not included in the poll. It does suggest that voters likely did not decide based on other issues (beyond the three in the poll) because there were not significant differences between the candidates.
(D) CORRECT. Even if voters prioritize pollution in their concerns, they might care more about crime and unemployment combined than they do pollution on its own. These voters would choose a candidate who matches their views on both crime and unemployment over one who only matches only on pollution. This could explain the election results with the poll still being accurate.
(E) This information calls the accuracy of the poll into question. If many voters choose not to participate in the poll, the sample for the poll may not be representative of voters in general.
Premises:
Poll showed that most voters believed that the three problems that should be addressed, in order of importance, are pollution, crime, and unemployment
Election result: Candidates from parties perceived as strongly against pollution were defeated, while those elected used to oppose laws against pollution (i.e. they were ok to continue as is without any laws against pollution)
Conclusion:
The poll may still be accurate.
We need to give a reason why it may still be accurate. It is something of a paradox. As per poll, we expected something but the result was something else. We need to provide a reason why both could be valid i.e. the poll may not have been wrong. Most voters may actually believe that the three problems that should be addressed are pollution, crime, and unemployment.
(A) some voters in Whippleton do not believe that pollution needs to be reducedIrrelevant. We are discussing whether most voters believe that pollution needs to be reduced.
(B) every candidate who was defeated had a strong antipollution recordIt mostly re-states what the argument has already given - candidates from parties against pollution were defeated.
It says that every candidate against pollution was defeated. From this it seems that voters are actually against anti-pollution measures, i.e. they want pollution to continue!
(C) there were no issues other than crime, unemployment, and pollution on which the candidates had significant differences of opinion
This is irrelevant. Whether there were other issues or not, doesn't matter. They were not a part of our poll. We need to find out why the polls may be accurate in suggesting that people care about these 3 issues the most.
(D) all the candidates who were elected were perceived as being stronger against both crime and unemployment than the candidates who were defeated
Now, here is the thing - the poll gives 3 problems that need to be addressed. People may have voted those candidates who were strongly against two of those problems even if they were noncommittal on the third problem.
Even if pollution was the most important to address, it doesn't mean that 'addressing pollution' was a necessary condition to getting elected.
It certainly explains why people could believe that these 3 issues need to be resolved and could have voted the way they did - in favour of resolving two of those issues. It does give support to the result of the poll.
(E) many of the people who voted in the election refused to participate in the pollThis says that many people who voted did not participate in the poll. If anything, it implies that the poll result may not be accurate, that we cannot rely on the poll results, that the sample size may have been small. Hence, when the poll says, "MOST people believe ..." - it may not be accurate. But we have to give a reason why the poll result may be accurate. We have to give a reason in favour of the poll result which this option doesn't do.
Also, this option does not give us which were the voters who did not participate in the poll. So we should assume that the ones who refused to participate proportionally represented the population. In that case, this option may have no impact on our conclusion.
So in any case, it certainly doesn't give data in favour of the poll's result.
Answer (D)
Nov 20
Nov 22
Nov 25
28 Mar 2023, 04:32
