Studies of voting patterns in the town of Glen Isle have shown that

Question

Studies of voting patterns in the town of Glen Isle have shown that the single most effective way for politicians to win votes is to purchase expensive television advertising. A candidate challenging the incumbent for a seat on the town council has argued that the importance of television advertising inherently favors incumbents and therefore that political television advertising should be banned in Glen Isle.

The challenger's conclusion logically depends on which of the following assumptions?

(A) Incumbents have won eighty percent of the elections in Glen Isle in the last 10 years.

(B) Some incumbent candidates in Glen Isle have been able to win votes by organizing frequent political rallies.

(C) Not all challengers in Glen Isle are skilled political fundraisers.

(D) Glen Isle incumbents have access to financial support in excess of that available to challengers.

(E) Banning political television advertising is not unconstitutional.

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Manan07 · Answer

The correct answer is (D) Glen Isle incumbents have access to financial support in excess of that available to challengers.

The challenger's argument is that the importance of television advertising inherently favors incumbents, and therefore, political television advertising should be banned. This conclusion logically depends on the assumption that incumbents have an advantage when it comes to purchasing expensive television advertising, which is only possible if they have greater access to financial resources than challengers.

Bunuel · Answer

KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

This is an Assumption question that asks for an assumption the challenger is making. The challenger concludes that political advertising on television should be banned because incumbents have an inherent advantage when it comes to purchasing such advertising, which has been shown to be the best way to attract voters.

If the challenger believes "advertising inherently favors incumbents" and the way to access advertising is by making an "expensive" purchase, the challenger must believe incumbents have some advantage in ability to pay for advertising.

(D) matches the prediction and is correct. If incumbents have more financial support than challengers, they would indeed have an advantage in purchasing advertising.

(A) and (B) are irrelevant. The incumbents in (A) may have won because they were better campaigners, or because voter preferred their positions. The incumbents in (B) may have won because voters liked their rallies, but in either choice, there is no information connecting those victories to television advertising.

(C) is irrelevant. The ability of some challengers to raise money is not the issue. The argument is concerned with the unfairness of the system, not the ability (or lack of it) of some challengers to function within that system.

(E) is not something that the challenger must believe for the conclusion to follow from the evidence. Even if the challenger believes that banning this advertising is unconstitutional, she may still think it should be done. Perhaps she doesn't think a ban would be challenged in court. Perhaps she believes the constitution should be amended!

TAKEAWAY:  Be very clear on the evidence and conclusion of the argument, and stick to the connection between them. Irrelevant choices are quite common, and can be easily spotted by having a good paraphrase of the argument.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Studies of voting patterns in the town of Glen Isle have shown that

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