Syndicated political columnists often use their newspaper columns

Question

Syndicated political columnists often use their newspaper columns to try to persuade readers to vote a certain way. However, their efforts to persuade voters rarely succeed, for by the time such a column appears, nearly all who will vote in the election will have already made a decision about which candidate to vote for.

Which one of the following is an assumption required by the argument?

(A) Syndicated columnists influence the votes of most of their readers who have not yet decided which candidate to vote for.

(B) The attempts of syndicated political columnists to persuade readers to vote a certain way in an election can instead cause them to vote a different way.

(C) People who regularly read columns by syndicated political columnists mainly read those written by columnists with whom they already largely agree.

(D) Regular readers of columns by syndicated political columnists are less likely to be persuaded to vote a certain way by such columns than are people who seldom read such columns.

(E) People rarely can be persuaded to change their minds about which candidate to vote for once they have made a decision.

panopticon · Answer

Syndicated political columnists often use their newspaper columns to try to persuade readers to vote a certain way

Conclusion: "their efforts to persuade voters rarely succeed"

Why?: Because voters will have already made a decision about which candidate to vote for.

But what if voters can be persuaded to vote for someone else even though the voters have already made a decision?

Syndicated political columnists often use their newspaper columns to try to persuade readers to vote a certain way. However, their efforts to persuade voters rarely succeed, for by the time such a column appears, nearly all who will vote in the election will have already made a decision about which candidate to vote for.

Which one of the following is an assumption required by the argument?

(A) Syndicated columnists influence the votes of most of their readers who have not yet decided which candidate to vote for.
 I would bet that this is the "trap answer". However, this answer has no real impact on our conclusion. We don't really care whether columnists can influence a certain group of people.

(D) Regular readers of columns by syndicated political columnists are less likely to be persuaded to vote a certain way by such columns than are people who seldom read such columns.
 This answer closes the gap. Just because people have already made up their minds, it doesn't mean that they can't be persuaded to change their minds. However, the author assumes that this is the case.

playthegame · Answer

Option E is correct, if E is negated the argument falls apart. A was close and if you read carefully you will be able to eliminate it. On the first round I decided to keep A in just to see what other options were available.

unraveled · Answer

Syndicated political columnists often use their newspaper columns to try to persuade readers to vote a certain way. However, their efforts to persuade voters rarely succeed, for by the time such a column appears, nearly all who will vote in the election will have already made a decision about which candidate to vote for.

Which one of the following is an assumption required by the argument?

(A) Syndicated columnists influence the votes of most of their readers  who have not yet decided  which candidate to vote for. - WRONG. Appeals to different set of people from what passage mentioned.

(B) The attempts of syndicated political columnists to persuade readers to vote a certain way in an election can  instead cause them to vote a different way . - WRONG. Irrelevant.

(C) People who regularly read columns by syndicated political columnists  mainly read those written by columnists with whom they already largely agree . - WRONG. Tells nothing about the opinion of the voters/readers.

(D) Regular readers of columns by syndicated political columnists are  less likely to be persuaded to vote a certain way  by such columns  than are people who seldom read such columns . - WRONG. 2nd besst for me. Ruined by a comparison that modifies the situation.

(E) People  rarely can be persuaded to change their minds  about which candidate to vote for once they have made a decision. - CORRECT. Had they been made to do so the situation in passage falls apart. The aspect presented by "however" would not hold as it is.

Answer E.

Syndicated political columnists often use their newspaper columns

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Syndicated political columnists often use their newspaper columns

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