BTGmoderatorDC wrote:Many conservative voters who had previously supported the candidate changed their minds when they learned that, in addition to his strong stance against sexual offenders, he is a lifelong collector of pornographic books and art.

A. in addition to
B. in spite of
C. as a consequence of
D. in opposition to
E. concurrently with

The question asks for the short phrase that correctly captures the relationship between two facts about the candidate:
1) He has a strong stance against sexual offenders.
2) He is a lifelong collector of pornographic books and art.

The sentence can be read without the prepositional phrase between the commas.
"Many conservative voters who had previously supported the candidate changed their minds when they learned that...he is a lifelong collector of pornographic books and art."
Thus, conservative voters did not change their minds because of his strong stance against sexual offenders.

Choices A and E suggest that voters changed their minds because of the addition of the two facts (the word "concurrently" means "happening at the same time").
Choice C suggests that the candidate is a lifelong collector of pornography because he has a strong stance against sexual offenders.
Choice D suggests that being a pornography collector is opposed to having a stance against sexual offenders, in the sense that the two conflict.

The prepositional phrase "in spite of" means "notwithstanding" or "disregarding." It is used to express a contrast between two things.
Disregarding his strong stance against sexual offenders, many conservative voters who had previously supported the candidate changed their minds when they learned that he is a lifelong collector of pornographic books and art.
The correct answer is choice B.