The Problem with the Electoral College

It seems that while Hillary Clinton will win the popular vote, Donald Trump has won the election due to the Electoral College. Out of 57 Presidential elections, there have been 4 instances where the candidate that won the popular vote lost the election because of the electoral college. This happened in 1876, 1888, 2000, and now 2016, which is a failure rate of 7%. Another interesting quirk of the electoral college is that it gives disproportionately more votes to smaller states and takes votes from bigger states. This seems to benefit the GOP because many of the states that typically vote Republican are smaller. However, even if the number of electoral votes were proportionate, in this case, it probably wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the election.

(Image from http://www.educationworld.com/tools_templates/FINAL_template_set2_electoral_college_map.doc)

 

Lastly, here is a link to the video that is my primary source, and it also explains how one could win the presidency with only 22% of the popular vote.

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