Alice: In democracies, politicians garner support by emphasizing the differences between their opponents and themsel...

shunhe on July 22, 2020

Hi @jam0086@mix.wvu.edu,

Thanks for the question! So let’s look at what the stimulus is telling us. Alice says that in democracies, politicians emphasize the differences between their opponents and themselves to get support. And since they have to actually govern based on what they say if they win, policies in democracies fluctuate wildly when parties switch over.

Elwell then comes along and says actually, despite what people might say during an election, politicians have to put together majority coalitions in democracies to get things passed. And so politicians end up softening their stands on individual issues once elected, so they might compromise more and be less extreme than what they said while campaigning.

Now the question asks us for something that Alice and Elwell disagree about. Take a look at (B), which tells us that they would disagree about whether basic policies change drastically when one party succeeds another in a democracy. The word drastically here is key, and is actually why this answer choice is correct. What would Alice think about (B)? Alice would agree, since she thinks that they do change drastically; she says that policies fluctuate wildly. What would Elwell think about (B)? Elwell would disagree, since Elwell thinks that people soften their stands once actually elected, and so the policies don’t change drastically, even though they might change. Alice agrees and Elwell disagrees, so they both take differing opinions on this statement, and (B) is the correct answer choice.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.