As of now the way the U.S. elects its president is through a system called the Electoral College. Other systems like the direct popular vote or the national popular vote may work in democracies, but the United States is a federal republic not a democracy. While allowing states to be represented in a manner consistent with their size, the Electoral College has the exceptional power of allowing small states and rural areas to still maintain their influence in the government. This allows us to have more moderate policies and protecting the rights of minorities. Problems in elections such as fraud and recounts can be a big problem with a system like the popular vote, but the Electoral College minimizes these problems because these problems are
…show more content…
However this is not true, a study by David Stromberg of Stockholm University determined that if the United States would replace the Electoral College with another system like the direct popular vote, 20 states would receive more visits, 20 states would receive less visits, and 10 states plus Washington D.C. would receive the same amount of visits (Stromberg 2008). Which means 59 percent of the eligible voting population resides in states that would either lose attention or gain no attention at all if the Electoral College were removed. The electoral college is attacked by some because in theory as few as 12 states could decide the president, however it is important to note under popular vote plans, only 9 states could decide the presidency, and furthermore, the average number of states carried by the eventual president during the 20th century is 37 (Flanigan and Zingale 2015). All of this means that the Electoral College incentivizes broader and more national policies from presidential candidates. The Founders understood that democracies from the past ended in violent failure (Kafka 2012). John Adams wrote “Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” (Hoxie 1988). Essentially, the Founder’s understood that because the basis of government under the constitution is derived
However this is not true, a study by David Stromberg of Stockholm University determined that if the United States would replace the Electoral College with another system like the direct popular vote, 20 states would receive more visits, 20 states would receive less visits, and 10 states plus Washington D.C. would receive the same amount of visits (Stromberg 2008). Which means 59 percent of the eligible voting population resides in states that would either lose attention or gain no attention at all if the Electoral College were removed. The electoral college is attacked by some because in theory as few as 12 states could decide the president, however it is important to note under popular vote plans, only 9 states could decide the presidency, and furthermore, the average number of states carried by the eventual president during the 20th century is 37 (Flanigan and Zingale 2015). All of this means that the Electoral College incentivizes broader and more national policies from presidential candidates. The Founders understood that democracies from the past ended in violent failure (Kafka 2012). John Adams wrote “Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” (Hoxie 1988). Essentially, the Founder’s understood that because the basis of government under the constitution is derived