LSAT 5 | Section 1 | Logical Reasoning: Q21

LR Question 21 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Whenever a major political scandal erupts before an election…

QUESTION TYPE: Principle

ANALYSIS: Incumbents often seek election. If both parties have a scandal then incumbents will tend to be reelected. If only one party has a scandal then incumbents from that party are likely to be defeated.

That’s all we know. Voters seem to like incumbents and they want to punish a scandalous party when they are able.

___________

1. Not necessarily. It may simply be that voters don’t feel they have any good options since both parties are scandalous.
2. We don’t know what voters feel when both parties have scandals.
3. The stimulus talks about the parties being responsible for the scandals, not the incumbents.
4. The voting patterns don’t seem to depend on who challengers are. The only difference occurs when a party is responsible for scandal. Then all incumbents from that party tend to suffer.
5. CORRECT. Right. Incumbents of scandalous parties will still be reelected, if both parties are to blame. If only one party deserves blame, then those incumbents can be punished effectively.

Recap: The question begins with “Whenever a major political scandal erupts before an election”. It is a Principle question. Learn how to master LSAT Principle questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.