Showing posts with label Electoral College. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Electoral College. Show all posts

Sunday, January 22, 2017

Is the Electoral College Useless?

A friend of mine said that if they abolish the Electoral College, no Republican would ever be elected President again. 

That got me thinking. First, I doubted it was a fact using simple math and the fact votes are counted individually and equally, meaning the total "popular vote" should be the will of the American people. 

The next thought was if the claim made were true, then it would mean it was more a problem of the Republicans running for office than anything else.

I decided to take a look back.

In 1964 LBJ's election map is fascinating.



In 1968 Richard Nixon won the Popular vote as well as the Electoral votes.


Richard Nixon's map is even more impressive for his second term. In 1972 he won both.



But the end was totally different.
Furthermore, the presidential term of 1973–1977 is notable for being the only one in American history in which both the original President and Vice President fail to complete the term. Vice President Spiro Agnew, who resigned less than a year after the election over allegations that he had accepted bribes as Governor of Maryland, was replaced by Gerald Ford under the terms of the 25th Amendment, while Nixon would resign due to the Watergate Scandal in August 1974. 

In 1976 Jimmy Carter won the Popular vote and the Electoral votes.

In 1980 Ronald Reagan received 50.7% of the Popular vote. He also received 489 Electoral votes. President Carter lost both, so there were no issues. The same thing happened in 1984.

In 1988, George H. W. Bush won both as well.

In 1992, Bill Clinton won both. He did it again in 1996.

In 2000 George W Bush won the Electoral vote but lost the Popular vote. In 2004, Bush won both.

In 2008 Barack Obama won 365 Electoral votes and almost 10 million more votes than John McCain. He did it again in 2012.

This is what happened between Trump and Clinton. Donald Trump received 304 Electoral votes to Clinton at 227. The upset running across this nation is what the actual votes were.
Popular vote

Trump
62,980,160
Clinton 65,845,063
Percentage45.9%48.0%

As you just saw, when someone says something that does not make sense to you, look up the facts and discover the truth, because the way things have been going lately, we can't believe some of the news reports either.