PrepTest 107, Section 3, Question 6
Astorga's campaign promises are apparently just an attempt(45 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(9 more words not shown)
- AIf she is(16 more words not shown)
- BThe opinion polls(18 more words not shown)
- CMost voters are(16 more words not shown)
- DAstorga has no(15 more words not shown)
- EAstorga does not(23 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What if Astorga actually intends to do what the voters want?
Her promises match what she learned from opinion polls. I can see why someone might suspect she's saying whatever will get her elected. But matching the polls doesn't settle her intentions. She might think a mayor should carry out the public's wishes and use the polls to find out what those wishes are. In that case, listening to voters would produce both her promises and her genuine plans.
The author instead concludes that the promises don't tell voters what Astorga actually intends to do. We haven't been given that separation between her public promises and private intentions. We've only been told where the promises came from.
What we’re looking for
The necessary-assumption question asks what the argument is taking for granted. My prediction is that Astorga does not genuinely intend to carry out the poll-based promises. If she does intend to do those things, the author's accusation loses its basis: the voters would be hearing her real plans, even if those plans were designed to please them.
Working the answers
- A
Being unable to carry out a promise is different from not intending to carry it out. Astorga might sincerely plan to improve the town and later discover that she cannot secure the needed funding. That would concern her ability to deliver, not whether she told voters her intentions. The argument does not need her plans to be impossible.
- B
The polls could be accurate or inaccurate without settling whether Astorga means what she says. Even a bad poll could supply a plan she sincerely intends to follow. The conclusion concerns whether her promises reflect her intentions, not whether the polls correctly represent the public.
- C
We don't need to know whether voters are persuaded. An insincere promise can fail to win votes, and a sincere promise can succeed. The popularity of Astorga's campaign does not determine whether she is describing her actual plans.
- D
Astorga could have strong personal opinions and choose either to announce them or to conceal them. She could also hold strong opinions that match what the polls show. The author doesn't need her to lack views of her own; the needed claim concerns the relationship between her promises and intentions.
- ECorrect
Astorga does not actually intend to do what the polls say voters want. That's the claim the author assumes when treating the poll-based promises as something other than her genuine plans.
Now test the alternative: suppose she does intend to follow those wishes. Her promises could then tell voters exactly what she intends to do. The evidence that she consulted polls would not support the conclusion that voters are being misled about her intentions.
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