Senator Strongwood reported that, contrary to a study cited by the administration, a thorough study by his own party ...

Naz June 16, 2015

In his argument against the results of the study cited by the administration, Senator Strongwood cites a "thorough study" conducted by his own party that showed that a reduction in the capital gains tax would lead to an increase in the federal deficit.

From this he concludes that the administration's plan for reducing this tax is dead because he cannot imagine that any senator would vote to increase the deficit.

So, what is Senator Strongwood doing? He is assuming that for some reason his study should be the one that is used as support, as opposed to the study conducted by the administration. Why is his study better? We have no reasoning for this.

This is exactly what answer choice (B) points out: "He assumed senators will believe his party's report instead of the administration's."

Answer choice (D) is not something Senator Strongwood does in order to advance his argument. Answer choice (D) states: "He assumes that senators will rarely vote for unpopular legislation."

You cannot assume that the increasing deficit is "unpopular legislation." We have no evidence for this in the passage. We merely know that Senator Strongwood cannot "imagine any senator voting to increase the deficit." This does not necessarily mean that he is assuming that senators rarely vote for unpopular legislation in general. We also don't necessarily know that voting to increase the defecit is unpopular. Make sure not to bring your real world opinions and knowledge into the LSAT world.

Thus, answer choice (B) is correct and (D) is not.

Hope that was helpful! Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Richard June 21, 2015

Thanks! This wonderfully addressed the confusion I had.