June 2001 LSAT Section 3 Question 14

People's political behavior frequently does not match their rhetoric. Although many complain about government interv...

Sallyanne-Tejan on July 11, 2022

Conclusion Question

I had eliminated answer choice b because I believed the conclusion to be the opening sentence of the stimulus. Could you explain why the conclusion would be voters electing politicians they resent? It seemed to me that this statement was supporting the claim that peoples actions don't match their rhetoric.

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Emil-Kunkin on July 16, 2022

Hi Sallyanne,

You're right that the first sentence is the conclusion. The final sentence, which B is referencing, is an intermediate conclusion. This is quite tricky- while it is a premise in support of the conclusion that people re-elect politicians they resent, B never states that that conclusion is the only or ultimate conclusion of the argument.

ERRYNN on March 12, 2024

Is the term political behavior not the same thing as political beliefs. I was tempted by question E but I ultimately did not choose it because of the use of the quantifier "never". However, for future testing purposes, could you please explain the discrepancy of the language being used in stimulus vs. answer E and whether this is also making the answer choice wrong.

Emil-Kunkin on March 16, 2024

So you're absolutely right to be hesitant about E with that never there. The argument doesn't make any such sweeping claims about what always or never happens so it would be difficult for E to be correct because of it.

I would also say that there is a big difference between political behavior and beliefs. I can believe something without acting in it by voting. In the future differences in language are important to note but only if they also convey a difference in meaning.