Political Analyst: "Although citizens of this state normally oppose any new taxes, they are overwhelmingly in favor of taxes that support the medical initiative. Candidate Johnson vowed to cut these taxes, and he was trounced in the primary elections. Furthermore, in a poll that asked citizens, "Would you pay higher taxes if it meant having the benefit of the new medical initiative?", an astonishing 82% replied "Yes." This is a pattern of support for taxes we have not seen before in this state."In the political analyst's argument, the portion in boldface plays which of the following roles?

Despite the anti-virus protection program installed on its computers, SmartTech has received many complaints from consumers that their computers had become infected with viruses. In order to reduce the number of its computers vulnerable to viruses, the CEO of SmartTech Corp. has had the company's engineers install three different virus-blocking programs on each computer before shipping them to consumers. Nevertheless, customer reports of computer viruses have risen since the institution of this initiative.Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain why acting on the CEO's plan failed to achieve her goal?

At Funston Stores, a salesperson's salary is comprised solely of commissions from sales. A particular salesperson's annual salary was lower in 2009 than in 2008. In both years, all of this salesperson's sales were of only one item, product X, and he made the same number of product X sales in both years. The commission percentage for all Funston salespeople has remained unchanged over the past ten years. The information above most strongly supports which of the following?

Company X and Company Y have each been building a rocket ship able to travel to Mars. After five years of design and construction, the rocket ships have been unveiled to the public, which instantly notices the rocket ships are so similar in design as to be indistinguishable. Therefore, one of the companies must have had information pertaining to the design of the other rocket ship.Which of the following, if true, would most call in to question the validity of the argument?

Six years ago, the police force of Harrisville was reduced, in an effort to make a smaller but more efficient force. In the first two years, crimes in Harrisville, especially by career criminals, were at a higher rate than they had been in the previous decades. Then, for the most recent four years, the crime rate has been the lowest in the seventy years on record, with the significant drop in crimes by career criminals. Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the change in the crime rate between the first two years after the change and the last four years?

The Ixazyiquo tribe are believed to be one of the few remaining tribes in the country of Malugiato to have never had any contact with the Lamandians, settlers who arrived in Malugiain during the last hundred years. Using satellite imagery, a team of anthropologists determined that the Ixazyiquo land is covered with thriving banana plantations. The anthropologists conclude that the Ixazyiquo tribe has in fact had direct contact with the Lamandians.Which of the following, if true, would best support the anthropologists` conclusion?

A mechanized factory with over 3000 separate conveyor belts wants to minimize the cost associated with maintenance, repair, and replacement of these belts. The conveyer belts currently are composed vulcanized rubber around a cotton web base, but the factory owners are investigating new plastic polymer design. For any given size belt, the costs for belts of the two compositions are comparable. Compared to the current rubber/cotton belts, the plastic polymer belts are lighter and easier to move, so operating the conveyor belts made of plastic polymer would consume less electric energy. A change from rubber/cotton belts to plastic polymer belts would require minor modification to some of the drive cylinders of the conveyor belts, but the costs of these changes are negligible. Which of the following would it be most useful to know in determining whether switching to the plastic polymer conveyor belts would be likely to help minimize the factory's cost related to its conveyor belt system?

Last year, the composite El-Hi education (CEHE) ranking for Silver County was its lowest score on record, since composite were first calculated in 1964. The CEHE ranking is a sophisticated weighed average of standardized testing results from Grade 1 to Grade 12. This year, the testing result for grades 1-6 in Silver County are about the same as they were last year, and the testing results for high school (grades 9-12) in Silver County are lower than last year's high school results in Silver County. Surely the middle school testing results (grades 7-9) in Silver County will also be as low as, or lower than, last year's results. Therefore, Silver County will undoubtedly establish a new low in its CEHE ranking. In the argument, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?

Mayor of Smalltown: Instituting high taxes on sodas, which are currently untaxed in Smalltown, has been shown in the past year to encourage people to reduce their intake of soda and live healthier lifestyles. Because the effects of such taxes on local businesses have not yet been determined, though, I believe we should wait before implementing such a tax.Activist: Your position is inconsistent with previous actions you have taken. You have implemented many laws that have decreased local businesses' revenues in order to help consumers, so concern for local businesses cannot be the true reason you refuse to pass this law now.The activist's argument is flawed because it fails to consider that

An analysis of the XO Candy Corporation divided its products into two categories: chocolate-based candies and non-chocolate-based candies. The analysis shows that, unlike the non-chocolate candies, few chocolate candies sold enough units to be profitable. Nevertheless, stopping production of the unprofitable chocolate candies will not necessarily make the entire company more profitable, because__________________ . Which of the following most logically completes the passage?

Homeowner Representative: Statistics show that burglars often target houses that appear unoccupied. Therefore, when homeowners are away from their homes for several days, we recommend that they leave lights on, to give the impression that the house is occupied. Crime Expert: The same lights continuously on all night long with no change give a potential burglar a clear signal that the house is unoccupied. The Crime Expert uses which of the following techniques in responding to the Homeowner Representative?

Eurasian watermilfoil, a weed not native to Frida Lake, has reproduced prolifically since being accidentally introduced there. In order to eliminate the weed, biologists proposed treating infested parts of the lake with a certain herbicide that is nontoxic for humans and aquatic animals. However, the herbicide might damage populations of certain rare plant species that the lake contains. For this reason local officials rejected the proposal.

Which of the following, if true, points out the most serious weakness in the officials' grounds for rejecting the biologists' proposal?

Last year a record number of new manufacturing jobs were created. Will this year bring another record? Well, any new manufacturing job is created either within an existing company or by the start-up of a new company. Within existing firms, new jobs have been created this year at well below last year's record pace. At the same time, there is considerable evidence that the number of new companies starting up this year will be no higher than it was last year and there is no reason to think that the new companies starting up this year will create more jobs per company than did last year's start-ups. So clearly, the number of new jobs created this year will fall short of last year's record.

In the argument given, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?

Highway Official: When resurfacing our concrete bridges, we should use electrically conductive concrete (ECC) rather than standard concrete. In the winter, ECC can be heated by passing an electric current through it, thereby preventing ice buildup. The cost of the electricity needed is substantially lower than the cost of the de-icing salt we currently use.

Taxpayer: But construction costs for ECC are much higher than for standard concrete,so your proposal is probably not justifiable on economic grounds.

Which of the following, if true, could best be used to support the highway official's proposal in the face of the taxpayer's objection?

Because it was long thought that few people would watch lengthy televised political messages, most televised political advertisements, like commercial advertisements, took the form of short messages. Last year, however, one candidate produced a half-hour-long advertisement. During the half hour the advertisement was aired, a substantial portion of the viewing public tuned into the advertisement. Clearly, then, many more people are interested in watching lengthy televised political messages than was previously thought.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?