A candidate can win the popular vote and still lose because of the "Electoral College", who are these people and how can we get rid of them and go STRICTLY by popular vote?
2006-12-24 04:49:02 · 19 answers · asked by quik1964 3 in Politics & Government ➔ Elections
They've channeled you into making the wrong objection. The real problem is the winner-take-all of the electoral votes in a state. So, if a state has 10 electoral votes and the winner has 60% of the popular vote in that state, he should only get 6 electoral votes.
The smaller states must be given an unequal representation. Objecting about the popular vote is similar to objecting to the fact that a small state has the same number of senators as a large state.
2006-12-24 05:47:55 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
You are obviously the victim of the public schools, since you don't understand the Electoral College.
There are two reasons why we do not elect a president by popular vote. First, the president is not elected by the people of the United States, because he does not preside over the people. he is the president of the United STATES. He presides over the states, and he is elected by the states.
Each state has electors who are pledged to one of the candidates. If there are four candidates on the ballot in a particular state, there are four sets of electors. The number of electors in the state is equal to the number of Representatives from that state in Congress, plus two additional for the two Senators. So, a state with only three Representatives will have five electors, a state with sixteen Representatives will have eighteen electors.
This was done to give a little more authority to the states with small populations. Otherwise, politicians wouldn't bother campaigning in those states. They would concentrate on the six or so most populous states, which would carry the election.
The Founders could have given each state one electoral vote, but they compromised. The Electoral College is a compromise between giving every state an equal vote, and voting by population. It has served us well for over 200 years. I see no reason to change it.
And now you know.
2006-12-24 04:59:44 · answer #2 · answered by iraqisax 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Because the pompous framers didn't trust the people to vote themselves. The Electoral College is outdated and does more harm than good. I asked a social studies teacher why they do this and he said b/c if they didn't candidates wouldn't campaign in the smaller states. Now, a few hundred years, we have gone full circle. No one cares about New York and DC (the states I've lived in). They only care about the "swing" states. Mean my vote literally doesn’t count. This generation needs to do away with this antiquated system! Make every vote count! Write your congressperson.
2006-12-24 04:56:15 · answer #3 · answered by Sarbanes Ox 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
To answer your question, the only way to get rid of them is to change the US Constitution. The whole point of the electoral college is to ensure that views from across the nation are heard, rather than just a handful of states. It is, of course, necessary to win the larger states to have any hope of winning the presidency, but that is another matter.
Most of the time the electoral college winner is also the winner of the popular vote.
2006-12-24 05:03:49 · answer #4 · answered by skip 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If it had been the other way around and Trump had won the popular vote but not the Electoral, you all would be praising the system. You only whine when things don't go your way. We have put up with Obama and his failed policies for 8 years. We're trying something different. That's the beauty of living in America.
2016-11-23 04:41:15 · answer #5 · answered by MAB 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They do to an extent. Each state has so many electoral votes. If you "win" that state, county, etc. You receive the allotted electoral votes for that area. It IS possible to win the popular vote and not the electoral vote. Which seems unfair to me, but that is how it is set up. I think it should be changed.
2006-12-24 04:55:10 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The electoral College. I can win 11 select states and take the presidency, yet still lose the popular vote
2006-12-24 05:53:43 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
As I recall there has only been two times in history that the
popular vote and the electoral vote were different, but it is still
based on the popular vote.
Check it out for yourself.
MERRY CHRISTMAS and have a nice day.
Thank you very much, while you're up!!!
2006-12-24 05:03:43 · answer #8 · answered by producer_vortex 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Amend the Constitution to remove the Electoral College. Either through the amendment process or by calling a constitutional convention and prosing the changes in that venue. However, you will never see that happen because the smaller state will block all attempts to dilute their power to elect the preseident.
2006-12-24 10:55:33 · answer #9 · answered by mayham1983 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The "Electoral College" was set up to satisfy the Old South, because they had fewer voters(but more slaves who could not vote) than the North. It should be abolished, because it is obsolete.
2006-12-24 08:00:17 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋