If a candidate wins the popular vote, why can they sometimes still lose the election?

Answer 1

Under the United States' Electoral College System, citizens vote for a presidential (and vice presidential) candidate, but the president and vice president are actually elected by the electoral college. The people's votes DO matter, but they function only indirectly. The system, which a lot of people don't understand and a surprising number of people aren't even aware of, was established by the Constitution, and basically works as follows:

In each state, citizens cast their votes. The popular vote works by instructing that state's electors how to vote; that is, the candidate who wins a particular state's popular vote is the candidate for whom that particular state's electors will cast *their* votes. Where it gets tricky is in the number of electors that a given state has. Not every state has the same number of electors, and the number that a state does have corresponds to the number of representatives that state has in Congress (a state has one elector for every member of the House of Representatives that it has, plus, one elector for each Senator). So, for example, California has 55 electoral votes, while New Hampshire has only 4.

Whether every single person in New Hampshire votes for Candidate X, or only 50 percent of the voters plus one (to give a majority of the popular vote) votes for Candidate X, Candidate X will get the same number of electoral votes: four.

A presidential (and VP) candidate can thus win the popular vote but still not win the election. The popular vote, for the purposes of actually putting someone in office, matter only at the state level.

For the record, a candidate has won the popular vote but failed to win the election not once, but FOUR times, in U.S. history. (In 1824, 1876, 1888, and, most recently, in 2000. See, e.g., http://www.infoplease.com/spot/prestrivia1.html, and http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepoliticalsystem/a/electcollege_2.htm)

Hope that helps.

Answer 2

Because of the Electoral College. Instead of just counting all the votes nationwide, they are counted state by state. States are given a certain number of ‘electors’ according to their population. The candidate who wins the majority of votes in a particular state wins all the electors for that state with the candidate who has won over the most electors becoming President. There is a decent amount of evidence that suggests this system should be reformed. However, the reason the system was implemented in the first place was to ensure that a presidential candidate would require widespread support to win, not just that of those people living in heavily populated areas.

Answer 3

Unlike the previous posters empty headed response, this one has merit:

The world series isn't won because of number of runs scored. It is the team which wins the most out of a series of games. US presidential elections works the same way. This way, one state with a huge population doesn't end up skewing the election simply as a result of it's huge number of votes. If in one game in the world series one team scored 20 points, but did not score any points in any of the other games, should they win the world series? Same thing with elections, just because the popular vote is high, this doesn't mean the election is or should be won by the candidate with the highest vote count. The election will be won with the highest electoral vote count.

Answer 4

Because you have to win the electoral voted to win a Presidential election. It's always been that way. It's only happened once that a candidate won the popular vote but not the electoral vote.

Answer 5

It has to do with the electoral college system
Lets say there were 4 states

California 10 million 10 electoral votes
Texas 8 million 8 electoral votes
New York 5 million 5
Pennsylvania 4 million 4

candidate A
Wins California and Texas with 60 % of both states
10.8 million and 18 of 27 electoral votes
candidate B
Wins New York and PA with 100% of both states plus remainder of other states 16.2 million and 9 of 27 EC votes
even though Candidate B won the popular vote, candidate B won a plurality of the states

Answer 6

as you see, from all the other postings it depends on the electoral college. This is what I mean by saying it's always the silent majority that pulls the rabbit out of the hat. So, if you don't vote, your vote doesn't go with your state representative and count in the process. Polls don't make a difference. If hillary has 47% and lets say McCain only has (I'll be generous) 25% it doesn't matter because it's the people who aren't as vocal about their choice that always swamp what people think is the top dog. Hence, the silent majority always pulls the rabbit out of the hat.
By the way, statistically speaking, McCain comes out ahead of hillary when matched up in a runoff.

Answer 7

Because they are not elected by the people. They are elected by the states. The President presides over the states, not the people.

Unfortunately, the public schools fail to teach the Constitution. They perpetuate the myth that we are a democracy, when if fact, we are a REPUBLIC.

The people in the various states vote on how their state electors will vote, but the popular vote has nothing to do with the presidential election. Read your Constitution.

Answer 8

I want to see the people decide, not the electoral college. It's not real democracy. The American people must unite and take over their own nation. Join Occupy Wall Street or the Teaparty. Both are seeking a better nation which doesn't have corruption and corporations speaking for them.

Answer 9

The Electoral College determines who is president and it is a good thing because candidates need to garner support from all of america not just the big urban areas.

Answer 10

Because back in the day it was thought that the people couldn't make the decision on their own. So, representatives from each state casted the vote per what the people voted for. 99.9% of the time the vote is casted correctly. There are times when the representative will vote for the other person, they do have that right.