Self-study
Some people claim that elected officials must avoid even the appearance of impropriety in office. ███ █████ ███████ ████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████████ ███ ███ ███████████ █████████ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ██ ███████ ████████ ██ █████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████████ ██ ██ ████████ ██████ ████████ ███ ███████████ ██ ████ ████████ ███ ████ █ ██████ █████████ ███ ██ ██████████ ██ ██ ███████ ██ ██ ████████ ██████ █████████
Analysis: Unstated Conclusion
The question stem asks us to identify the conclusion that the argument "leads" to. This tells us that the conclusion is not directly stated, but is implied to follow from the explicit claims in the argument.
The stimulus opens by discussing what "some people" think: that elected officials must avoid appearing improper. The tone of the argument seems skeptical about this idea though. This offers a hint about the conclusion: maybe the argument overall disagrees with this claim.
And indeed, the premises support a conclusion that elected officials don't have an obligation to avoid appearing improper. After all, not all improper-appearing actions are actually improper. That leaves popularity as the only reason to avoid appearing improper. And since politicians have no obligation to be popular, it logically follows that they have no obligation to avoid appearing improper.
9.
The argument is structured so ██ ██ ████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ████████████
a
No elected official ███ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ ██████████ ██ ████████████
The argument tells us that
b
All elected officials ████ █ ██████ ████████ ██ ███████████ █ ████ ██████ ████████ ███████
The argument doesn't discuss politicians' vested interests at all, just their obligations. (B) goes off in a different direction from the argument's support.
c
Elected officials who ████ ████ ██████████ ██ ██████████ ███ ███████████ ██ █████ ██████ ██████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ██ ████ █████
(C) seems to point to the idea that politicians should avoid appearing improper. But that's the opposite of what the argument actually supports—that politicians aren't obligated to do so.
d
The public never ████████ ██ ██ ███████ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███████
The argument isn't about what the public approves of, it's about politicians' obligations (or lack thereof). The argument mentions public approval, but only to support the idea that politicians aren't obligated to keep up appearances just for approval's sake.
e
Elected officials who █████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ██████ ████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ ██████ ██ ██ ██████████ ███ ███████████ ██ █████ ███████
The argument never specifically discusses politicians who abuse their power, so (E) is immediately questionable. And either way, the point is that avoiding appearing improper isn't an independent obligation.