In 40% of US presidential elections in this century, the candidate with the most votes did not become president (“Popular Votes”). This is because of the electoral college, which is the system used in presidential elections in the United States. In the electoral college system, voters elect electors, who pledge their electoral votes for a specific candidate. The candidate with over 270 electoral votes wins the presidency, regardless of the popular vote. Because this system completely disregards the popular vote, the electoral college is undemocratic and should be abolished and replaced with a popular vote system.
The electoral college is undemocratic by its very nature, and results in the will of the people not being reflected in the transfer of power. This was seen in the 2000 presidential election, when Democratic candidate Al Gore received the most popular votes, but Republican George W. Bush won the electoral college. This was also seen in the 2016 presidential election, when Hillary Clinton (D) received nearly 2.9 million more votes than Donald Trump (R), yet Trump won a landslide victory in the electoral college (Krieg). If most people support a given candidate, and most people vote for that candidate, then that candidate should become president. Anything other than this is a …show more content…
Citizens vote to elect electors, which then cast their vote in favor of whichever presidential candidate they pledge to support. However, in 20 states there is nothing preventing electors from voting against who their constituency voted for and who they pledged to support (“Faithless Electors”). Throughout US history, there have been 167 electors who have done this (“Faithless Electors”). In fact, there were 7 faithless electors in just the 2016 presidential election alone. Getting rid of electors will result in the people voting for the president directly, cutting out the unnecessary
The electoral college is undemocratic by its very nature, and results in the will of the people not being reflected in the transfer of power. This was seen in the 2000 presidential election, when Democratic candidate Al Gore received the most popular votes, but Republican George W. Bush won the electoral college. This was also seen in the 2016 presidential election, when Hillary Clinton (D) received nearly 2.9 million more votes than Donald Trump (R), yet Trump won a landslide victory in the electoral college (Krieg). If most people support a given candidate, and most people vote for that candidate, then that candidate should become president. Anything other than this is a …show more content…
Citizens vote to elect electors, which then cast their vote in favor of whichever presidential candidate they pledge to support. However, in 20 states there is nothing preventing electors from voting against who their constituency voted for and who they pledged to support (“Faithless Electors”). Throughout US history, there have been 167 electors who have done this (“Faithless Electors”). In fact, there were 7 faithless electors in just the 2016 presidential election alone. Getting rid of electors will result in the people voting for the president directly, cutting out the unnecessary