Logical reasoning PrepTest 131 · Section 3 · Question 5

Incorrect. The mayor establishes that unemployed voters care about joblessness, but she never claims that it's a top issue for all voters, or that this one issue will ensure that she gets reelected.

Incorrect. The Mayor doesn't claim that she's eliminated unemployment or has created enough jobs for everyone who wants one, just that she's created a large number of jobs—more than any other mayor before her.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Errors in Reasoning

Stimulus Summary:
C: The 8% increase in the number of jobs in the city are all taken by people who moved to the city.

M: I clearly increased employment, providing jobs for voters who want them!

Answer Anticipation:
Gotta love politicians! They never address the point at issue, instead spinning it to their benefit.

The Challenger doesn't dispute the jobs data, but he does provide additional context for why those numbers aren't all that impressive. The mayor didn't create jobs for the residents of the city—instead, the 8% increase in the number of jobs is completely due to people from outside the city being relocated by the federal government to a new job site in the city. While this might be good for tax revenue, it doesn't represent an increase in employment, as the Mayor claims in her rebuttal. The correct answer should highlight this dodge.

Answer Explanation:
This answer highlights the Mayor's dodge. The Challenger doesn't dispute the numbers, just the meaning of them. The Mayor claims the increase in jobs addressed unemployment in the city, whereas the Challenger points out that all of those jobs went to non-residents. The Mayor, instead of addressing that, takes a victory lap.

Key Takeaway:
There are two primary ways that a rebuttal can fail to address the initial argument. The first is to mischaracterize the argument and then address this separate version. The second is to ignore a major part of the argument. This question is an example of the latter—but note that the former showed up as an incorrect answer!

Incorrect. The Challenger doesn't make such a claim, so this answer doesn't reflect the stimulus.

Incorrect. Be careful here! This answer sounds similar to the correct one. However, the Challenger does agree that there was an 8% increase in jobs, and that's the only belief that the Mayor attributes to him. The Mayor rather ignores a major part of the Challenger's argument rather than mischaracterizes portions of it.