The politician's conclusion is: "...due to our leadership, fewer people now find themselves among the ranks of the unemployed.... Why? Because during the time that the politician's party took office, almost four years ago, "the number of people unemployed city-wide increased by less than 20 percent." Whereas, during the years that the opposition party controlled city government, "the number of unemployed city residents rose by over 20 percent."
Why is the reasoning in the politician's argument flawed? Well, let's say that before the opposition party took control, there were 100 unemployed people. We know that during the time the opposition party controlled city government, "the number of unemployed city residents rose by over 20 percent." Thus, the number of unemployed people rose to at least over 120. Then when the politician's party took office, "the number of people unemployed city-wide increased by less than 20 percent." So the number of unemployed people rose to at most a little under 145 (20% of 120 is 24). Let's even say for the sake of the argument that it only increased by 1%. It would still increase the total number of unemployed people. Therefore, the evidence that the politician gives in support of her conclusion, actually goes against it, because no matter what, the number of unemployed people during the politician's party are still increasing (even if the percentage of increase is less than that during the opposition party's time).
Answer choice (D) therefore is correct because it states that the evidence the politician gave in support of the conclusion actually provides more support for the denial of the conclusion. As shown above, the percentages stated by the politician in support of her conclusion that "fewer people now find themselves among the ranks of the unemployed," actually provide more support for the denial of the conclusion because more people are unemployed during the politician's party, than with the opposition's party.
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