mmon wrote:2,500 individuals of voting age were polled and asked where they stood on the political spectrum. 78% of these individuals described themselves as "moderate" in their political views; however, in the national elections that most closely preceded and followed the poll, over half of the individuals polled voted for candidates far to one end of the political spectrum. It follows that these individuals did not accurately describe their political views.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the above argument relies?

A. Individuals always characterize themselves in keeping with their actual political views.
B. There were no moderate candidates in the national elections preceding and following the poll.
C. Voters with moderate political views will not vote for candidates who do not express moderate political views.
D. Voters can be highly fickle, changing their political views in a relatively short period of time.
E. Many of the polled individuals did not understand what a moderate political view is, and so misdescribed themselves

I will post the OA later. Please explain your reasoning.

IMO E

Here we can apply the Negation/Denial Technique to "identify" the assumption on which the conclusion is based upon!

Coming to E :

E. Many of the polled individuals did not understand what a moderate political view is, and so misdescribed themselves


After Negate Test :

Many of the polled individuals did understand what a moderate political view is, and so misdescribed themselves .

Accordingly, the polled individuals clearly understood the meaning of "moderate political view" and then they have taken a decision favoring the candidates far to one end of the political spectrum.

Assumption is like basement of a building. If we try to shake it up, the building (conclusion) should fall apart .

Now the author assumes that results from the "real" election and the "poll" were just contradictory. He bases this conclusion on the assumption that many of the polled individuals did not understand what a moderate political view is, and so misdescribed themselves .

Conclusion: It follows that these individuals did not accurately describe their political views.

78% said moderate but voted for extreme. Author concludes that they did not accurately describe their political views. Think as to why the author did not conclude they were bribed or anything else for that matter.

There is a logical gap between the evidence and conclusion.

A. Individuals always characterize themselves in keeping with their actual political views.

How does it matter whether the individuals characterize themselves in their political views. Characterizing themselves with their actual views is different from the describing their actual views and implementing what they said in the views.

B. There were no moderate candidates in the national elections preceding and following the poll.

We cannot assume that there were no moderate candidates. Nowhere in the argument is this mentioned or hinted.

C. Voters with moderate political views will not vote for candidates who do not express moderate political views.

Same as in B, nowhere it is mentioned. Also does not have any link with not able to describe their views.

D. Voters can be highly fickle, changing their political views in a relatively short period of time.

If this is the assumption, then conclusion should have been "Voters cannot be trusted on their political views" or something similar. It cannot be "Individuals cannot describe their political views".

E. Many of the polled individuals did not understand what a moderate political view is, and so misdescribed themselves

This looks like the correct answer. IF the individuals did not understand what moderate political view is, they would have said that view is moderate and still voted for someone who is not moderate.

mmon wrote:2,500 individuals of voting age were polled and asked where they stood on the political spectrum. 78% of these individuals described themselves as "moderate" in their political views; however, in the national elections that most closely preceded and followed the poll, over half of the individuals polled voted for candidates far to one end of the political spectrum. It follows that these individuals did not accurately describe their political views.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the above argument relies?

A. Individuals always characterize themselves in keeping with their actual political views.
B. There were no moderate candidates in the national elections preceding and following the poll.
C. Voters with moderate political views will not vote for candidates who do not express moderate political views.
D. Voters can be highly fickle, changing their political views in a relatively short period of time.
E. Many of the polled individuals did not understand what a moderate political view is, and so misdescribed themselves

I will post the OA later. Please explain your reasoning.

If I describe myself as moderate in my political views and yet I vote for a candidate at one extreme of the political spectrum, would you say that I did not accurately describe my political views? Only if you assume that moderate never vote for such candidates. (C)

(E) need not be true for the argument to be logical. It could be that they all understood what a moderate political view is, but purposefully mischaracterized themselves as moderates out of embarrassment or mischief

Kevin

Is there an alternate way to eliminate choice E based on the usage of "many of the polled individuals". I was thinking that "many" in choice E can mean 1 or 99 on a scale of 100 (correct me if i am wrong here) and it can either support or weaken based on that number. Also, the main argument gives a % of polled individuals and choice E uses many of the polled individuals(a number), can we eliminate based on that reasoning. Let me know. Appreciate your time.

E. Many of the polled individuals did not understand what a moderate political view is, and so misdescribed themselves

IMO C is correct. I am not sure how E is in the scope, I guess it is irrelevant here

mmon wrote:2,500 individuals of voting age were polled and asked where they stood on the political spectrum. 78% of these individuals described themselves as "moderate" in their political views; however, in the national elections that most closely preceded and followed the poll, over half of the individuals polled voted for candidates far to one end of the political spectrum. It follows that these individuals did not accurately describe their political views.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the above argument relies?

A. Individuals always characterize themselves in keeping with their actual political views.
B. There were no moderate candidates in the national elections preceding and following the poll.
C. Voters with moderate political views will not vote for candidates who do not express moderate political views.
D. Voters can be highly fickle, changing their political views in a relatively short period of time.
E. Many of the polled individuals did not understand what a moderate political view is, and so misdescribed themselves

I will post the OA later. Please explain your reasoning.

IMO C is correct. I am not sure how E is in the scope, I guess it is irrelevant here

mmon wrote:2,500 individuals of voting age were polled and asked where they stood on the political spectrum. 78% of these individuals described themselves as "moderate" in their political views; however, in the national elections that most closely preceded and followed the poll, over half of the individuals polled voted for candidates far to one end of the political spectrum. It follows that these individuals did not accurately describe their political views.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the above argument relies?

A. Individuals always characterize themselves in keeping with their actual political views.
B. There were no moderate candidates in the national elections preceding and following the poll.
C. Voters with moderate political views will not vote for candidates who do not express moderate political views.
D. Voters can be highly fickle, changing their political views in a relatively short period of time.
E. Many of the polled individuals did not understand what a moderate political view is, and so misdescribed themselves

I will post the OA later. Please explain your reasoning.

kevincanspain wrote:

mmon wrote:2,500 individuals of voting age were polled and asked where they stood on the political spectrum. 78% of these individuals described themselves as "moderate" in their political views; however, in the national elections that most closely preceded and followed the poll, over half of the individuals polled voted for candidates far to one end of the political spectrum. It follows that these individuals did not accurately describe their political views.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the above argument relies?

A. Individuals always characterize themselves in keeping with their actual political views.
B. There were no moderate candidates in the national elections preceding and following the poll.
C. Voters with moderate political views will not vote for candidates who do not express moderate political views.
D. Voters can be highly fickle, changing their political views in a relatively short period of time.
E. Many of the polled individuals did not understand what a moderate political view is, and so misdescribed themselves

I will post the OA later. Please explain your reasoning.

If I describe myself as moderate in my political views and yet I vote for a candidate at one extreme of the political spectrum, would you say that I did not accurately describe my political views? Only if you assume that moderate never vote for such candidates. (C)

(E) need not be true for the argument to be logical. It could be that they all understood what a moderate political view is, but purposefully mischaracterized themselves as moderates out of embarrassment or mischief

Tahnks Kevin. OA is C.
I still don't understand the conclusion - "It follows that these individuals did not accurately describe their political views."
they did not accurately describe - does it mean that the people knowingly falsified their preference? if so then I agree with C. but in other case what if they had different qualifier( from their perspective) for moderate views and they described their position correctly.

So, I still think B is a good fit -
the reason is let's say total people is 100, 78 who said they were moderate did not vote.
out of 22 ,11 voted some candidates with extreme views. and I think all data holds.

even simply, if there is no moderate candidate and if you still want to elect a better candidate you may end up voting for a non-moderate candidate.

I may be stretching it too far but I just don'r get it

mmon wrote:

kevincanspain wrote:

mmon wrote:2,500 individuals of voting age were polled and asked where they stood on the political spectrum. 78% of these individuals described themselves as "moderate" in their political views; however, in the national elections that most closely preceded and followed the poll, over half of the individuals polled voted for candidates far to one end of the political spectrum. It follows that these individuals did not accurately describe their political views.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the above argument relies?

A. Individuals always characterize themselves in keeping with their actual political views.
B. There were no moderate candidates in the national elections preceding and following the poll.
C. Voters with moderate political views will not vote for candidates who do not express moderate political views.
D. Voters can be highly fickle, changing their political views in a relatively short period of time.
E. Many of the polled individuals did not understand what a moderate political view is, and so misdescribed themselves

I will post the OA later. Please explain your reasoning.

If I describe myself as moderate in my political views and yet I vote for a candidate at one extreme of the political spectrum, would you say that I did not accurately describe my political views? Only if you assume that moderate never vote for such candidates. (C)

(E) need not be true for the argument to be logical. It could be that they all understood what a moderate political view is, but purposefully mischaracterized themselves as moderates out of embarrassment or mischief

Tahnks Kevin. OA is C.
I still don't understand the conclusion - "It follows that these individuals did not accurately describe their political views."
they did not accurately describe - does it mean that the people knowingly falsified their preference? if so then I agree with C. but in other case what if they had different qualifier( from their perspective) for moderate views and they described their position correctly.

So, I still think B is a good fit -
the reason is let's say total people is 100, 78 who said they were moderate did not vote.
out of 22 ,11 voted some candidates with extreme views. and I think all data holds.

even simply, if there is no moderate candidate and if you still want to elect a better candidate you may end up voting for a non-moderate candidate.

I may be stretching it too far but I just don'r get it

B is not the right answer.

Reason: Conclusion is "These individuals didn't accurately describe their political views". In other words, there should be a problem from "These Individuals" side which caused mis-description. B states that there were no moderate candidates, this clearly means that there was no option for voters implying that "These individuals" didn't cause the mis-description. This will weaken the conclusion.

C is the right answer as it states out the valid assumption, this is "Supportive type of assumption". If you negate this, it will weaken the argument.

HTH