PrepTest 108, Section 2, Question 3
Columnist: Polls can influence voters' decisions, and they(62 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(8 more words not shown)
- AFew people are(16 more words not shown)
- BThe publication of(12 more words not shown)
- CThe publication of(19 more words not shown)
- DThe publication of(17 more words not shown)
- ECountries in which(25 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
A ban seems like a big response. Even if the restriction on expression is small, what benefit are we getting in exchange?
I can see how polls might affect an election. Someone might want to vote for the apparent winner. Or a supporter might stay home because a poll makes the result seem certain. If people trust an unreliable poll, those reactions could alter the outcome. The columnist also worries that a last-minute poll leaves too little time for a response.
Still, I want to question the proposed remedy. Should we prevent people from publishing their analysis during that final week? My first concern is the restriction itself: even a limited ban might be a cost we don't want to accept. The columnist calls that cost minimal, but that alone doesn't establish that the ban is worthwhile.
What we’re looking for
We're asked to weaken the argument. A reason to reject the restriction could work, though I don't have one precise answer in mind. Keep the recommendation specific: ban publication during the week before the election. Whatever a choice says about polls in general needs to bear on that particular proposal.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
This takes a different route from our initial concern about restricting expression. It questions how much of the supposed problem the proposed ban would address. Few people are influenced by polls published in the final two weeks, which includes the final week the columnist wants to restrict.
Polls could influence voters at other times without this particular ban accomplishing much. A doesn't say that no voter is influenced or that no close result could ever change. But it reduces the apparent benefit of banning publication during the chosen period, weakening the argument for imposing the restriction.
- B
An uneven race could remain unaffected while a close race was changed by the polls. The columnist's concern doesn't require every election to be decided by a poll. Removing that concern for races with a clear leader leaves the cases in which small changes could matter.
- C
This supplies a way polls could affect the outcome: people who think their candidate is certain to win might stay home. That supports the concern about distorted voter behavior. We need a reason to doubt the case for the ban, and C instead helps explain why the columnist is worried.
- D
Drawing attention to late gains doesn't show that polls are reliable or that the information won't influence the outcome. The information could matter to voters, but D doesn't establish that its value outweighs the concern raised in the argument. It doesn't directly undercut the case in the way A does.
- E
The columnist's stated goal is to limit polls' effects on election outcomes, not to make citizens generally better informed. A country could achieve that narrower aim without improving its citizens' overall information. E evaluates the ban by a broader measure the argument doesn't promise to improve.
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