We the Popular Voting People?

Question

Recently someone brought to my attention, a simple yet complex question. The question was, "How does the Electoral Process works, vs. the Popular vote?" Well we went through the usual, the voting population of each state, combine their votes to a certain number at which time an electoral vote is place, based on the population of the state. This provides a fair playing field for states with a small population.
Then he said, "Then why is that if we take the combined popular vote of each election of the people without their state representation being involved: why is it that the popular vote seems to win and thus really represents the voice of the national people, without state representatives. I quickly thought of the Articles of Confederations. What do you think is correct. Has our combined voice really been muted due to our state representative voice? Or has the state always represented the best interest of it's residents?

Answer 1

The Electoral College grants each state the number of electoral votes in the following manner: one vote for each of its members in the House of Representatives plus one vote each for its two Senators; thus, the states with the greatest populations have the largest numbers of Electoral Votes and the greatest say in the results of a Presidential Election (which is why Florida, with its large number of such votes was so crucial in the 2000 election), and since those votes can not be split (the candidate with the largest number of the popular votes receives all of the state's electoral votes), it is possible that the winning candidate can receive the number of Electoral Votes necessary to be elected while still failing to garner a majority of the popular vote (as happened in the year 2000 when George W. Bush was allegedly elected, although Al Gore won the popular vote). However, the designers of the Constitution formulated the Electoral College method for choosing our president, evidently considering it superior to our utilizing the popular vote alone. Since then, there has been perpetual debate as to the validity of the Electoral College system, though it has managed to survive! The election of 2000 may have demonstrated that system's weaknesses, despite the fact that then the Supreme Court actually decided the election -- also, as provided by the Constitution, although their ruling was to deny another recount in Florida...

Answer 2

The electorate has almost always voted the same way as the public. I believe there has only been one instance in which the electoral college voted against the public.