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Electoral College Pros And Cons

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Though unlikely to be at the forefront of any 2016 presidential platforms, the Electoral College is a widely contested issue among partisans, many of who believe that a better method exists for selecting the President of the United States. This anti-Electoral College sentiment is also present among Americans nationwide, Republicans and Democrats alike. According to a 2013 Gallup poll, 61% of Republicans and 66% of Democrats would vote to do away with the Electoral College. In today’s contentious political atmosphere, in which Republicans and Democrats are constantly at odds with one another, any level of agreement between the parties clearly indicates that a change needs to be made. Changes are already starting to occur at the state level, …show more content…

This often leads to the winner of the popular vote receiving a disproportionate number of electoral votes relative to that candidate’s national popular vote share. For example, in 2012, Barack Obama won 332 of the 538 electoral votes, approximately 61.7% of the electoral votes, while only winning 51.06% of the popular vote. This leads candidates to search for states where a small victory in the popular vote will allow them to gain a large number of electoral votes. If we consider economic theory to be a relevant comparison when analyzing elections, winning electoral votes is a zero-sum game, that is, for a candidate to win a state’s electoral votes it must come directly at the expense of the other candidate who is then prevented from winning those same votes. As a result, candidates target these competitive states and flood them with advertisements and campaign stops in an effort to not only win the electoral votes for himself, but also to prevent his opponent from winning said votes. This scenario is not unique to the Electoral College, and is a relevant factor all the way down to the level of individual selection, since voting for a particular candidate automatically excludes the other candidate from receiving a vote from that same individual. However, this exclusion becomes much more critical at the point at which a candidate can be excluded from receiving dozens of electoral votes rather than just a collection of individual

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351 Words | 2 Pages

The United States government is one of the most admired and complex in the world, On the contrary one of the fundamental components that has an extensive impression on the American People and the Election is the Electoral College. Our founding fathers created The Electoral College over two hundred years ago, and it is still in effect today. They feared that having just the Popular Vote would give too much power to one person. In this paper, we will be discussing what the Electoral College is, the benefits and disadvantages of the Electoral College as well as if the Electoral College should be abolished or reconstructed.

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A presidential candidate could win the Electoral College with merely eleven states total (Document A). If one were to deduct this number, then 39 states would remain without an appropriate say on who the next president is. This is unfair. Additionally, George C. Edwards quotes, “The Electoral College violates political equality. It is not a neutral counting device… It favors some citizens over others, depending solely upon the state in which voters cast their vote for president (Document D).”

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Based on the pie charts, the reader is shown that presidents that did win the popular vote, did not win by that large of a margin the Independent candidate and other major-party candidate split the votes. The Electoral College only shows a larger win ratio. Abolishing the electoral college would “...encourage single-issue ideologues and eccentric millionaires to just into presidential contests” (Document E). Although these people tend to run anyways, the electoral college is a way to ensure that the people with no political background or people that do not qualify as president will not win. The Electoral College was originally built for a world that did not have mass media and a way for people among the U.S. to communicate, but presently, the Electoral College serves as a way to ensure

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967 Words | 4 Pages

It also makes political parties favored over larger areas because the candidates must get the votes of less populated states, which tend to have much more area in

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1100 Words | 5 Pages

The existence of the Electoral College has remained a source of debate for the population of the United States for centuries. Despite the evident discontent surrounding it, the United States is largely unaware of the disconnect between citizens’ voices and the Presidency. It can be said that popular sovereignty, no matter how pleasant a concept, has become little more than an illusion the people cling to. In short, the Electoral College is an institution that must be abolished, because it violates political equality, is unfair to third party candidates, and is not an accurate representation of the people’s votes.

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Supporters of the continuation of the Electoral College assert that this institution brings forth equal importance among all states and that the voting of the president is the hands of a well educated body who will choose what is best for the country. In a letter written by Alex Hamilton to the state of New York, he praises the Electoral College in that the electoral body is composed of “men most capable of analyzing the qualities needed to be president… [and] will most likely possess the information and judgment needed for such complicated investigations” (Source A). The modern era today leaves no one uninformed especially when it comes to politics. The fact that the Electoral College wants the decision to be made by credible officials is commendable, but in the current world any civilian can access the most up to date information about presidential candidates with a click of a button. This entails that there is in fact no need for a separate party to carry out a decision for the citizens of America.

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Advocates of the Electoral College may think that if a popular vote was instated, candidates would just focus on the larger populated areas; however, don’t they

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730 Words | 3 Pages

The minimum amount of Electoral Votes a state can have is three; one for each senator, and one for each representative member in the House. This means that a state like Wyoming with a population of around half a million will receive three electoral votes, while a state like Nevada with a population 6 times that of Wyoming's, only has double the electoral votes. The Electoral map on Document A clearly shows the inequality of electoral votes given to small states, as 13 states have four or less votes. This means that the individuals vote in these states and many more, are worth more proportionally. Document D really delves into this idea as well, as it synthesizes data from populations of 12 different states whose total is less that the population of Illinois, but have more than double the electoral votes.

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Our literate population combined with an abundance of modern technology gives the masses the ability to make informed voting decisions making the Electoral College’s original purpose no longer relevant in today’s world. The Electoral College has also given rise to “swing states,” or states that fluctuate from election to election which side of the political spectrum they favor. As a result, presidential candidates have been forced to focus the majority of their time on these few states. This causes politicians to make campaign promises catered to them just to gain political favor which translates into policies once someone is in office that do not impact the majority of the country. For example, candidates in the latest election discussed coal and how to save coal jobs even though there were only about 68,413 US coal miners as of 2015.

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Maansi Dasari Mr. Morris AP English 3 12 January 2017 The Electoral College: The last remnant of slavery Amidst the chaos of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election, emerges a cacophony of voices screaming for Electoral College reform. Many are angered by the results, others are confused: how can one candidate receive nearly three million more votes than the other and still lose the election? The Electoral College has been the United States’ method for electing a president since the Constitution was ratified, and this is far from the first time that it has been criticized.

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1747 Words | 7 Pages

During the election, candidates use strategic tactics to produce more votes. Candidates tend to express what the people want to hear their speeches. For everyone else, the Electoral College is a stressful and complicated process.

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685 Words | 3 Pages

Every four years, the citizens of the United States of America elect a new president. Not everyone knows exactly how the president is elected. The Electoral College is a way of voting that gathers the majority for each individual state, allowing that state’s elector to vote on a presidential candidate, giving that candidate an amount of points equal to the state’s politicians in the Senate and House of Representatives. Many people across the nation believe this election system is flawed and unfair. Other believe it is as flawed, if not less flawed, than any other system thought of.

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In Document G, show us a Chart in which depicts that the candidate who wins the popular vote never wins the electoral vote. So, the candidate who receives more votes from the public never wins the presidency. So, why even campaign if the goal is to win less votes than your opponent so you don’t win the popular vote but win the presidency? In Document A, it shows us that any candidate could win the 270 votes by winning only eleven states. These eleven states are; California (55), Texas (38), New York (29), Florida (29), Pennsylvania (20), Illinois (29), Ohio (18), Michigan (16), Georgia (16), North Carolina (15), and New Jersey (14).

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Another main issue opponents have is the matter of swing states. Due to the fact that the main political parties can count on securing the electoral votes from certain states due to political ties, the main campaign focus turns to “battleground” states such as Florida where the outcome of the popular vote is unsure, therefore becoming a swing state (The Electoral College). Because of these swing states, some states are deemed more important than others during the election and, because of this, gain more political power. The final main concern of opponents of the Electoral College is the possibility of a minority President being elected.

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The Electoral College system the founding fathers devised helps to balance out the power of the large, populous states. This system forces candidates to campaign in all states since they all carry some sway in the elections (“Understanding the Presidential Election”). However, other issues present themselves as well, like states with large independent voters that can be swayed and the issue that a candidate can lose the popular vote and win the election. The first issue is that states that are equally divided between democrats and republicans and hold a large number of electoral votes like Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania are considered swing states. (“Understanding the Presidential Election”)

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