Candidate and Media

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Candidate and Media

by komal » Wed Feb 17, 2010 7:32 pm
Candidate: I am worried about the effects that the recent media coverage of my personal life will have on my chances of gaining office. Even though the reports are untrue, some voters interviewed on television, in response to these reports, have already expressed doubts regarding my ability to lead.
Campaign manager: Your concern is unfounded. Of 1,000 people in this city randomly surveyed by e-mail, only 25 have responded that their perception of your ability to lead has been negatively impacted by the recent media coverage.
The campaign manager's argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the ground that it fails to acknowledge the possibility that
(A) future media reports that follow up on the story of the candidate's personal life will further damage the public's perception of the candidate's ability to lead
(B) the candidate's main opponent will use the opportunity created by the recent media coverage to conduct her own survey to assess the damage done to her opponent's credibility
(C) the voting public would understand that its reaction to the recent media coverage of the candidate's personal life was the intended primary focus of the survey
(D) opinions expressed in television interviews are not always the most reliable indicator of how interviewees are likely to act in given situations
(E) many of those surveyed who are skeptical of the candidate's ability to lead due to the recent reports did not respond to the survey

OA E
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by money9111 » Wed Feb 17, 2010 8:13 pm
E because it targets the basis for the campaign managers argument... if the campaign manager is relying on tainted data... then his conclusion is therefore tainted
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by reply2spg » Tue Mar 16, 2010 4:49 pm
This is typical GMAT like question. Check very first question in OG 11 (Honest participents in survey.) No doubt that answer is E

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by pnk » Wed Mar 17, 2010 7:45 pm
I zeroed down on C & E. On further analysis selected E. Here is why:


The campaign manager's argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the ground that it fails to acknowledge the possibility that

(C) the voting public would understand that its reaction to the recent media coverage of the candidate's personal life was the intended primary focus of the survey (if this were the answer, we would have assume that the voting public gave favorrable answer since they were aware of the primary focus. In other words, had the public not been aware of primary focus, their answer would have been unfavorable....we can't make such an assumption...so wrong)
(E) many of those surveyed who are skeptical of the candidate's ability to lead due to the recent reports did not respond to the survey (directly attack the data. If many skeptical people did not respond, means survey is skewed = > flaw => correct)
Pls correct if my reasoning is wrong