(NEXSTAR) — Did you know there have been five U.S. Presidential Elections in which the winner lost the popular vote? The Electoral College has voted to elect John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Benjamin Harrison in the distant past, and George W. Bush and Donald Trump in modern times.
Ignoring the presidents of the distant past, as the political parties at those times were in flux and differed from today’s Republicans and Democrats, it’s easy to see why some argue the Electoral College has recently only benefitted Republicans.
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The Electoral College has famously decided a different winner in two modern-day elections: the 2000 Election and the 2016 Election — both Electoral College votes favored the Republican candidates who lost the popular vote, George W. Bush and Donald Trump.
The reputational fallout of these votes — where the College appeared not to side with the will of the American people — has contributed to an increasingly unfavorable view of the Electoral College over the past few decades.
Earlier this month, Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz even called for abolishing the Electoral College, though the Harris campaign later said this was not part of the official platform.
“I think all of us know, the Electoral College needs to go,” said Walz. “We need a national popular vote.”
Recently, Pew Research found that 64% of Americans (over 6 in 10) say they’d prefer the winner of the U.S. presidential elections be decided by national popular vote only. About 35% polled favored keeping the Electoral College.
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When broken apart by political party, Pew Research found that most Democrats (87%) say they’d prefer the president be elected by popular vote only. Meanwhile, only 46% of Republicans say the same. Sixty-one percent of Moderates and more liberal Republicans said they’d prefer only a popular vote.
Despite proposals to change or abolish the Electoral College (the University of Central Florida reports there have been over 1,000), there are many reasons why these attempts failed. Firstly, as UCF History Professor John Sacher explains, the Electoral College is part of the U.S. Constitution — and amending the Constitution is complicated and difficult.
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Additionally, Sacher argues that the Electoral College is useful in instances like the 2000 Presidential Election. Despite Gore winning a plurality of the popular vote, he didn’t win a majority. Neither Bush nor Gore won the majority and it fell upon the electors to decide.
Sacher explains: “We are the only nation that still uses an Electoral College… Given that this discussion has already lasted well over 100 years, we may be in for 100 more.”
