Text 1Public policy researcher Anthony Fowler studied the history of elections in Australia, a country that requires citizens to vote....
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
Text 1
Public policy researcher Anthony Fowler studied the history of elections in Australia, a country that requires citizens to vote. Fowler argues that requiring citizens to vote leads to a significant increase in voters who would otherwise not have the time or motivation to vote. Thus, election results in countries that require citizens to vote better reflect the preferences of the country as a whole.
Text 2
Governments in democratic countries function better when more people vote. However, forcing people to vote may have negative consequences. Shane P. Singh and Jason Roy studied what happens when a country requires its citizens to vote. They found that when people feel forced to vote, they tend to spend less time looking for information about their choices when voting. As a result, votes from these voters may not reflect their actual preferences.
Based on the texts, how would Singh and Roy (Text 2) most likely respond to the research discussed in Text 1?
Only countries of a certain population size should implement mandatory voting.
People who are forced to vote are likely to become politically engaged in other ways, such as volunteering or running for office.
Requiring people to vote does not necessarily lead to election outcomes that better represent the preferences of the country as a whole.
Countries that require voting must also make the process of voting easier for their citizens.
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| Text 1 | |
| "Public policy researcher Anthony Fowler studied the history of elections in Australia, a country that requires citizens to vote." |
|
| "Fowler argues that requiring citizens to vote leads to a significant increase in voters who would otherwise not have the time or motivation to vote." |
|
| "Thus, election results in countries that require citizens to vote better reflect the preferences of the country as a whole." |
|
| Text 2 | |
| "Governments in democratic countries function better when more people vote." |
|
| "However, forcing people to vote may have negative consequences." |
|
| "Shane P. Singh and Jason Roy studied what happens when a country requires its citizens to vote." |
|
| "They found that when people feel forced to vote, they tend to spend less time looking for information about their choices when voting." |
|
| "As a result, votes from these voters may not reflect their actual preferences." |
|
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
What's being asked? How Singh and Roy would respond to Fowler's research and conclusions
What type of answer do we need? A response that reflects Singh and Roy's perspective on mandatory voting based on their research findings
Any limiting keywords? "most likely respond" indicates we need the response that best aligns with their established position in Text 2
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- Singh and Roy would likely challenge Fowler's conclusion
- While they agree that more voting is generally good, their research shows that mandatory voting creates uninformed voters
- They would probably argue that just getting more people to vote doesn't automatically mean better representation if those people aren't making informed choices
- Their key point is that forced voters spend less time researching candidates, which means their votes might not reflect what they actually want
- The right answer should express skepticism about whether mandatory voting truly leads to better representation of people's preferences
Only countries of a certain population size should implement mandatory voting.
✗ Incorrect
- This focuses on population size as a factor for implementing mandatory voting
- Singh and Roy's research doesn't address population size at all
- Their concerns are about voter information quality, not country size
People who are forced to vote are likely to become politically engaged in other ways, such as volunteering or running for office.
✗ Incorrect
- This suggests forced voters become more politically engaged in other ways
- This contradicts Singh and Roy's findings, which show that forced voters actually spend less time on political information
- Their research points to decreased engagement, not increased engagement in other areas
Requiring people to vote does not necessarily lead to election outcomes that better represent the preferences of the country as a whole.
✓ Correct
- This directly challenges Fowler's main conclusion that mandatory voting leads to better representation
- Perfectly aligns with Singh and Roy's finding that forced voters are less informed and their votes "may not reflect their actual preferences"
- Addresses the core disagreement: more voters doesn't necessarily mean better representation if those voters aren't well-informed
Countries that require voting must also make the process of voting easier for their citizens.
✗ Incorrect
- This focuses on making voting easier or more accessible
- Singh and Roy's research is about information quality, not voting accessibility
- They're concerned with how much research voters do, not how difficult the voting process is