Electoral college or popular?

When a candidate wins both the popular and EC votes, there's really no issue one can find (beyond petty bickering because one's preferred candidate didn't win). But when someone wins the popular vote and another candidate wins the Electoral College, the issue is brought to light. Shouldn't the candidate more Americans wanted in office actually be in office? But, on the other hand, the Electoral College is a pretty fair system. My only real issue with it is that some states get too many votes; it can be cleaned up some. We need a third way to decide a president if the voting methods split, in my opinion. The EC holds a lot of power. They were talking yesterday about how a member of the Electoral College can actually decide to go against what the population voted! So I think it should change some for future elections. It doesn't look like Romney will come within 2 points of the popular vote, but can people imagine if he had won it? He (or enter any candidate) could have conceivably won the popular vote by a landslide and still lost due to the EC.

It seems when you look at at the county by county voting maps it seem like we are two groups one large city and the other rural. The states with one large city you see the votes tending to split and many decisions are made by the large city and the rural areas have to pay for it. When you look at cities like Chicago and New York you see the cities need financial help from the state, ie the rural areas. As one pundit said we are becoming a nation of people being supported by the government and those who pay the bill. Included in the the group of people being supported by the government are all those who work for the government as well as those receiving government support. Those being supported by the government tend to live in the large cities.

Well, the popular vote is what determines the electoral vote. Each state is given "electorial votes" based on the population of the state. Texas, Calif have like 13 or something, while Iowa or Idaho have smaller population so they only get a few Electoral votes. So if the majority of popular votes are for Democrate..then the electoral votes for that state go to the democrate candidate. Thing is...what does population have to do with anything? Just cause a state has high population...they get more votes. What's the point? I think each state should haave one "electoral vote"....the population of the state votes...if the votes are counted and the majority is voting for Republican..then the one electoral for that state goes for Republican...there are 50 states, District of Columbia would be the 51st state so there is no chance of a tie. End of story...no big deal..and none of this counting up to 270 etc. Counting 50 votes is so easy, and so convenient and so precise...this electoral crap is just that..crap and more confusing and useless and a bunch of busy work that is so not needed.

I don't really care although I lean a little towards the popular vote. Although in most states, the elector votes depending on the popular vote in his state. I heard one commentator speaking about swing states. He forgot that we would still have swing states. For example, if the popular vote is close, Ohio still would have been a swing state in the most recent election because sometimes Ohio will have more voters voting Republican while in other cases Ohio will have more people voting Democratic. So with a tie in votes, the number of Ohio votes would push the results in one direction or the other. The only difference is that we have smaller numbers (using the electoral college) to project with. Of course, using a popular vote will make it harder to project a winner so early compared to the electoral college.

The electoral college is a relic of the back-and-forth of the 1700s whose time passed in the 1800s. It's well past time to elect the President by popular vote.

Hi,oneidmnster,thank you for sharing this information. In my view, the presidency should be elected by all the people in the country. So, I think both Electroal College and popular vote can affect the result. What's your idea? I wish I seem not be so silly about this answer, I have little knowledge about the election process in your country. If I am wrong,please let me know.Thank you!

I believe the Electoral Vote was created to confuse us all and allow it to be used instead of the popular vote. It has been proven in past that the popular vote was different outcome than the Electoral was. Which should be used, I feel it should be the one that was voted by the people that wins... period.

It should be decided by the citizens of a certain country. It will reflect from the result of votes. Have a great day!