Sunday, February 12, 2017

Popular Vote vs. Electoral College

There has been a great deal of discussion over the fact that in the final count Mrs. Clinton had a 2.9 million (2.1%) edge in the popular vote, yet she lost the election.  The Progressives claim that this proves that the Electoral College is obsolete.

Before we discuss the relevance of the Electoral College, let us do some analysis of the election results.
If we take look at the voting results of 49 states, not including California, we find that Donald Trump had an edge of 306 electoral votes to Hillary Clinton’s 177 electoral votes.   Mr. Trump won with 63% of the electoral votes and in addition he had a 1.4 million edge in the popular vote.
If we include California, we find that Donald Trump still has a commanding edge of 306 electoral votes to Hillary Clinton’s 232 electoral votes.   Mr. Trump wins with 57% of the electoral votes but he loses the popular vote by a margin of 2.9 million votes.
If the election was determined by popular vote, a few coastal cities in California would have overturned the decision made by 98% of the nation.
The truth is that if the popular vote was used, every election would be decided by a relatively few cities.  Most of them located on the east and west coasts.
In spite of how they are maligned by our schools, the Founding Fathers were a brilliant group of men.  When they were writing the Constitution, a strongly argued issue was States Rights.   The states with big populations wanted the number of legislators to be determined by population.  Small sates wanted an equal voice for all states.
The result was our two body congress in which each state would appoint two members to the Senate, and the House of Representatives which gives each state a number of members which is based on their population.  (NOTE:  After the Civil War, Senators were changed to elected rather than appointed)
At the time the Constitution was written, about 90% of the nation by area was rural while the majority the population lived in large towns and cities.   At that time the President and Vice President (they were elected separately) would have been elected by just three or four cities.  As the 'by county 2016 election map', shown below, indicates, the same is still today.
RED indicates counties carried by the GOP--BLUE indicates counties carried by the DEM
There is little doubt that if elections were determined by New York City, Chicago, and California, we would have uncontrolled borders, only criminals would own firearms, the Constitution would be in shreds and we would be living under communism.
If that is the United States that you want, than by all means do away with the Electoral College.
Comments are invited!
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4 comments:

Chuck said...

Puts it all in perspective doesn't it!

Also shows the importance of having judges that believe in our Constitution!

Thank God for the wisdom of creating the Electoral College.

Watch Dog said...


BERNIETROOPER said "EVERYONE KNOWS THAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS WHATEVER WE NEED IT TO MEAN AT THE CURRENT TIME."

Unfortunately, the Liberals actually believe that CRAP! And they love judges that think that way, thus making them (Liberals) the greatest threat to America!

Raymond said...

The founding fathers attempted to shield us from the major weakness of a true democracy and created the form of government known as a Representative Democracy.

The Electoral College is a part of that.

It was also designed to keep the people from destroying the nation by voting themselves massive amounts of welfare.

Liberals have created massive welfare programs, not to benefit the people, but in a long term effort to bring America the democracy to an end.

Bill50 said...

It was the Electoral College that won the election of 1860 for Abraham Lincoln.