One Man, One Vote: An Analysis of Faithless Electors
Just a quarter century ago, 71% of United States’ residents had “a great deal” of confidence in the President (Gallup). Today, that number resides at approximately 33% (Gallup). Many reasons have been proposed to explain the decreased confidence both in the Presidency and Congress, which has seen about a 20% drop since 1991, but there is still debate among scholars as to what exactly contributes to this issue (Gallup). Regardless of who the President is or which political party controls Congress, the fact that there has been a significant and consistent decline in the confidence level of both parts of government means that the will of the people is not being expressed. The first three words of the Constitution, “We the …show more content…
Considering today’s Electoral College, one might be confused as to how the Electoral College is any sort of a happy medium between the two options. In 48 states, the candidate who wins the popular vote wins all of that state’s electors, which makes this seem much more like an inefficient and convoluted popular election than anything else (“How the Electoral College Works Today”). However, when the Electoral College was initially proposed, the idea was that people would vote for electors (or have them chosen by the State Legislature) that represented their beliefs. Those electors would then go on to vote for whomever they believed was the best candidate. Political parties began to form and proposed that citizens vote for sets of Electors that would then elect the president loyal to that party. States started to implement a “winner takes all” system of Elector, where the candidate with the most votes was promised all of that state’s Electors (Kimberling 5-6). Within a century, the original Electoral College became the one that exists in the United States
Just a quarter century ago, 71% of United States’ residents had “a great deal” of confidence in the President (Gallup). Today, that number resides at approximately 33% (Gallup). Many reasons have been proposed to explain the decreased confidence both in the Presidency and Congress, which has seen about a 20% drop since 1991, but there is still debate among scholars as to what exactly contributes to this issue (Gallup). Regardless of who the President is or which political party controls Congress, the fact that there has been a significant and consistent decline in the confidence level of both parts of government means that the will of the people is not being expressed. The first three words of the Constitution, “We the …show more content…
Considering today’s Electoral College, one might be confused as to how the Electoral College is any sort of a happy medium between the two options. In 48 states, the candidate who wins the popular vote wins all of that state’s electors, which makes this seem much more like an inefficient and convoluted popular election than anything else (“How the Electoral College Works Today”). However, when the Electoral College was initially proposed, the idea was that people would vote for electors (or have them chosen by the State Legislature) that represented their beliefs. Those electors would then go on to vote for whomever they believed was the best candidate. Political parties began to form and proposed that citizens vote for sets of Electors that would then elect the president loyal to that party. States started to implement a “winner takes all” system of Elector, where the candidate with the most votes was promised all of that state’s Electors (Kimberling 5-6). Within a century, the original Electoral College became the one that exists in the United States