Critical Reasoning

Party leaders feared that the recent addition of conservative planks to the party platform would diminish the popularity of the party among younger voters. Some predicted that the number of party members younger than 25 would decline, or, at best, stay the same. This fear, though, has proven to be unfounded: of all party members, the percentage younger than 25 is higher than ever. Rather than hurt the party, conservatism has helped attract more young voters to the party.

In the passage above, the author counters the arguments of those who feared that the addition of conservative planks would lessen the party's popularity among younger voters by

A. pointing out that 25 years of age is not necessarily a natural dividing point for distinguishing between "younger" and "older" voters

B. showing that the leaders' predictions were based on a fundamental misinterpretation of statistics

C. introducing evidence that the author maintains demonstrates that the party's adoption of conservative planks has boosted its popularity among young voters

D. indicating that other, liberal planks of the party platform help offset the negative impact of the conservative planks on party enrollment among young voters

E. maintaining that most people join the political party their parents belonged to, and that the party's programs exert little influence on that decision


OA C

Source: Princeton Review