University of Memphis law professor Steven Mulroy discusses the effectiveness and history of the Electoral College.
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Watch: Warren Vows To Be The Last President Elected By The Electoral College
University of Memphis law professor Steven Mulroy discusses the effectiveness and history of the Electoral College.
WATCH:
One thing I ask of all those who have an opinion – either positive or negative – regarding the Electoral College: Is your opinion based on the results of recent elections in 2000 and 2016 where the popular vote went to the Democratic candidate and the electoral vote (and the presidency) went to the Republican, or would your opinion be the same if a Republican won the popular vote while a Democrat won the electoral vote and became President?
Personally, I’m happy with Bush winning in 2000 and Trump in 2016, but I do think a popular vote system would be better going forward. It’s not a slam-dunk since valid reasons do still exist for the Electoral College, but overall (IMO, anyway) I think there are better reasons for the popular vote to prevail.
Like you, I am more inclined against the Electoral College. The Democratic Party has had opportunities to modify the law; they did not.
A different electoral mechanism would certainly mean different campaigning strategy, and I am in favor of that, e.g. now Republican candidates are not offering much promises or attention to California or NYC voters. The new rules would not automatically be more favorable to any candidate, no more than current rules are.
Yep, that’s exactly why.
The three states with the most electoral votes – California, Texas and New York (tied with Florida) – are ignored by the presidential candidates of both parties during the general election, simply because they aren’t in play. Without a doubt, many voters in those states don’t bother to vote, for the same reason.
While it’s true that small states would receive far less attention from the candidates if the popular vote was what mattered, IMO that’s better than having a small number of swing states receive the lion’s share of attention while tens of millions of California, Texas, etc. voters are ignored.
On a side note, we can’t say that Al Gore would’ve been elected President if the popular vote was what counted, since both candidates would’ve conducted totally different campaigns if the rules were different. Circumstances would also have played out differently – as an example, many voters in West Florida didn’t bother voting once news stations called the state for Bush; obviously they would’ve voted if a nationwide popular vote system was in play.
Warren the candidate is _why_ we have an Electoral College.
First she has to win the primary. Then she has to be elected. Hopefully that won’t happen.
She is one scary lady.
Also both California and New York are losing population. Five years from now if the trend continues and after the Dem president’s policies tank the country the popular vote might not help.
Hillary won the popular vote from those who voted for her – the dead and eventually in Feb 2019 became their president.
What if she does get elected by the Electoral vote but not the popular vote – would she still change the system??
Would she defer her presidency to the popular vote?
She ain’t goin’ nowhere but back home.
Well, when Bl$$mberg gets in, he’ll change the rules just for himself and take 3 terms.