The quotations from the excerpt that best represent reasonable evidence to support the claim that Americans are losing confidence in their governments are 1 and 3:
1. For the first time in the history of our country a majority of our people believe that the next five years will be worse than the past five years. (YES)
2. . . . the willingness of Americans to save for the future has fallen below that of all other people in the Western world.
(NO)
3. Two-thirds of our people do not even vote. (YES)
4. The productivity of American workers is actually dropping. . . (NO)
Evidence is generally used in argumentative essays to support a claim that the writer has made about a debatable topic. Moreover, evidence is included in order to make this claim more solid and convincing for the reader. In this case, <u>quotations 1 and 3 provide proper evidence because they are implying that most people do not have hope for a better future regarding political issues</u>.
