Self-study
In a poll of eligible voters conducted on the eve of a mayoral election, more of those polled stated that they favored Panitch than stated that they favored any other candidate. ███████ ████ ███████ ███████ ██████████ ██████ ████████ ███████ ██ █ ███████████ ███████
"Surprising" Phenomenon
A poll of eligible voters showed that more people supported Panitch than supported any other candidate, so why did Panitch lose to Yeung?
Objective
This is an except question: there are a number of possible explanations for the election result (perhaps the poll sample was biased, many of those polled didn’t show up to vote, etc.), but the correct answer will not explain why the poll didn’t reflect the election results. It will either be irrelevant or make the result even harder to explain.
5.
Each of the following, if █████ ███████████ ██ █ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████████ █████████ █████ ███████
a
Of Yeung's supporters, █ ███████ ██████████ ████ ████████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██████████ ███ ████ ████████ ██ █████
This does not explain why Panitch lost the election despite winning the poll. If anything, Panitch having a higher percentage of supporters who can vote makes the loss even harder to explain.
b
A third candidate, ████████ █████████ █ █████ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ ████████ ████ ███ █████
If another candidate dropped out of the race, then perhaps their supporters voted for Yeung instead. This could explain why a poll conducted before Mulhern’s exit would differ from the election’s outcome.
c
The poll's questions ████ ████████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ █████████ █████████
If Panitch’s staff designed the poll questions, then it’s possible that they were worded in a biased or leading way. This could skew the data, possibly explaining why the poll’s results differed from the election’s.
d
Of the poll ███████████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ███████ █████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████████ ██ █████ ███████████ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ███████████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ███ █████
If Panitch’s supporters generally viewed the election as less important than Yeung’s, then it’s possible that many of them didn’t actually end up voting. Yeung’s supporters turning out in greater numbers could explain why the poll’s results differed from the election’s.
e
The poll, conducted ██ █ ███████ ████████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ █████ ███ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ███ ████ ████████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ██ █████████ ███████████
If fewer of Yeung’s supporters were available to respond to the poll at the time and place it was conducted, then the results of the poll would likely be skewed in favor of Panitch, which could explain why its results differed from the election’s.