Days of Change

Majorities

Every once in a while, some lefty claims that Hillary Clinton won a majority of the popular vote. This is not true. Clinton won a plurality, the largest non-majority share, at about 48%. That’s near what George W. Bush got when he “lost” the 2000 Presidential Election.

The somewhat strange rules of the Electoral College allow the states to choose them in any manner they see fit. However, the vote must have a majority winner. If there are multiple candidates, there is only a winner if they get more than half the Electoral votes.

If we were to scrap the Electoral College, how would the winner be determined? If it is by the popular vote, shouldn’t the winner be, well, popular? In the last 10 elections, only 6 were won with absolute popular vote majorities, and two of those were less than 51%.One advantage of the Electoral College is that their margins are more decisive.

Much like 2000, Democrats were fighting a close election but somehow thought they would come out the winners. The popular vote advantage is only a symptom that they focused on places they already had the votes and neglected places where they needed them. It’s probably easier to change a campaign strategy than the Constitution.