The Electoral College means a candidate can lose the popular vote but still become president. It also makes campaigns focus on a few swing states while most voters get ignored. A majority of Americans support switching to a national popular vote.
What the public thinks: In Sept 2024, 63% of Americans favored moving away from the Electoral College (Pew). Gallup found 58% favor picking the president by national popular vote. (Pew Research Center, Gallup)
Why reform: Harvard’s Ash Center explains how winner-take-all rules in 48 states sideline most voters and can produce a president who did not win the most votes nationwide. (Harvard Ash Center)
Racial impact: Because small states (which are mostly Caucasian) have more electoral votes per person than large, diverse states, the Electoral College amplifies Caucasian voters’ power while diluting the votes of people of color. For example, a Wyoming vote carries nearly four times the weight of a California vote, this means that a single vote in Wyoming is worth roughly 3.7 times more than a single vote in California. Harvard Law Review notes the system “inflates the power of Caucasian voters, particularly those in small, rural states, and diminishes the power of voters of color concentrated in large, diverse states.” (Washington Post)
How reform could work: One path is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC), where states pledge their electors to the national popular vote winner once the compact reaches 270 electoral votes. (National Conference of State Legislatures, AP News)
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