Logical reasoning PrepTest 121 · Section 4 · Question 1

Incorrect. There's no indication in the stimulus that there was an intent to skew the poll.

Incorrect. There's no discussion of what Samuels's supporters believe, so this answer is out of scope.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Valid

Question Type:
Main Point

Stimulus Summary:
Poll results - 65% favor Perkins over Samuels
But Perkins fights for the upper-middle class, and the survey was done at a high-end mall, so the sample was skewed to Perkins and thus the results are dubious.

Answer Anticipation:
This argument points out that a survey is flawed in that it has an unrepresentative sample. The author's opinion of this flaw is that it makes the results "dubious," so that's likely the main point.

The argument directly supports this ("because") and then goes on to show exactly how the results were unrepresentative—the survey was done in a place where Perkins's supporters were more likely to be. In describing how the sample was unrepresentative, the argument supports that premise leading to the opinion on the survey results, confirming it as the main point of the argument.

Let's find an answer stating that the poll results are dubious.

Answer Explanation:
The argument is designed to support the conclusion that the results of the poll are dubious—which is another way of saying they're probably not accurate, because of the skewed sample. This answer paraphrases the main point of the argument, so it's the right answer.

Key Takeaway:
Main Point questions ask you to find an answer that reflects the argument as it's written on the page. While the correct answer doesn't have to repeat the conclusion as written, it does have to capture that idea.

Incorrect. This answer goes a step too far. The argument shows that the sample was unrepresentative, but that doesn't mean that the opposite conclusion is true. It's possible that, were the sample representative, Perkins would have 57% support. Picking this answer would be falling for an absence of evidence flaw!

Incorrect. There's so much in this answer that is out of scope. The argument never makes a recommendation or talks about the people who designed the polls.