Syndicated political columnists often

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Logical Reasoning question.

TopicsNecessary Assumption

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Stimulus

Syndicated political columnists often use their newspaper columns to try to persuade readers to vote a certain way. However, their efforts to persuade voters rarely succeed, for by the time such a column appears, nearly all who will vote a decision about which candidate to vote for.

What this question is testing

Necessary Assumption

Your task

Find the assumption the argument requires in order for its conclusion to hold.

Common trap

Answers that would help the argument but aren't strictly required (sufficient, not necessary).

Winning move

Negate each choice — the right one breaks the argument when negated.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question

Which one of the following is an assumption required by

Answer choices

Weaken5% picked this
Syndicated columnists influence the votes of most of their readers who have not yet decided which
This increases the likelihood that syndicated columnists are successful in persuading readers to vote a certain way.
5%
Too Strong2% picked this
The attempts of syndicated political columnists to persuade readers to vote a certain way in an election can instead cause them
This need not be what causes readers to vote differently than the syndicated columnist would like. It could be something else, such as the possibility that the readers have already decided which way they will vote before they read the column.
2%
Weaken5% picked this
People who regularly read columns by syndicated political columnists mainly read those written by columnists with whom
This increases the likelihood that syndicated columnists are successful in persuading readers to vote a certain way.
5%
Out of Scope3% picked this
Regular readers of columns by syndicated political columnists are less likely to be persuaded to vote a certain way by such columns than are
People who seldom read columns by syndicated political columnists are not relevant to the argument.
3%
Correct85% picked this
People rarely can be persuaded to change their minds about which candidate to vote for once they
Why this is right
This protects the argument from the possibility that voters will change their mind and be persuaded to vote differently even after they have decided which candidate to vote for.
Skill tested: Necessary Assumption · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.
85%

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