Question

voters political orientation, level of political information, and probability of voting
economists kenwin kofi charles and melvin stephens jr. investigated a variety of factors that influence voter turnout in the united states. using survey data that revealed whether respondents voted in national elections and how knowledgeable respondents are about politics, charles and stephens claim that the likelihood of voting is driven in part by potential voters confidence in their assessments of candidates—essentially, the more informed voters are about politics, the more confident they are at evaluating whether candidates share their views, and thus the more likely they are to vote.
which choice best describes data in the graph that support charles and stephenss claim?
choose 1 answer:
a at each point on the political orientation scale, high - information voters were more likely than low - information voters to vote.
b only low - information voters who identify as independents had a voting probability below 50%.
c the closer that low - information voters are to the ends of the political orientation scale, the more likely they were to vote.
d high - information voters were more likely to identify as strong democrats or strong republicans than low - information voters were.

Explanation:

To determine the correct answer, we analyze each option against the graph and the claim (more informed voters are more likely to vote):

• Option A: The graph shows that for each political orientation (1 - 7), the black bars (high - information) are taller than the gray bars (low - information), meaning high - information voters have a higher voting probability at each point. This directly supports the claim.
• Option B: The claim is about the relationship between information level and voting likelihood. This option focuses on a specific group (low - information independents) and a probability threshold, not the relationship between information and voting, so it's incorrect.
• Option C: The claim is about high - vs. low - information voters. This option only talks about low - information voters' position on the scale and voting likelihood, not the comparison between high and low information, so it's incorrect.
• Option D: The claim is about voting likelihood, not party identification. This option is about party identification of high and low - information voters, so it's incorrect.

Answer:

A. At each point on the political orientation scale, high - information voters were more likely than low - information voters to vote.