Keep Electoral College Or Go To A Nationwide Popular Vote Total?

[marvinthemartian]

Should we keep the Electoral College or should we go to a system where the election is decided by the total number of votes received by a candidate nationwide? Or is there a better option than either of those? Discuss and support your position.

[Forever Julian]

Popular vote would be awful based on this one thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertility_and_intelligence

We would really be at the mercy of the underclass then.

[marvinthemartian]

LOL you may have a valid point

[Psychic Gibbon]

Popular vote would be awful based on this one thing.

http://en.wikipedia....nd_intelligence

We would really be at the mercy of the underclass then.

How is that not already the case?

[GEORGIAfan]

Agree with Gibbon, we are already at the mercy of the underclass. Unless we start having a test to give people the right to vote, we are fudged.

[Flip Flop]

Keep the electoral college. Popular vote would be the final nail in the coffin of the check that states have on federal power. I am not sure what you want to accomplish by eliminating the electoral college. I for one, would prefer to see the 17th amendment repealed.

[Forever Julian]

How is that not already the case?

It certainly does seem to be turning into it.

It will slow, but lowering birthrates+low incentive for high grade immigration will make the electoral college faulty in the near future.

[Psychic Gibbon]

Keep the electoral college. Popular vote would be the final nail in the coffin of the check that states have on federal power. I am not sure what you want to accomplish by eliminating the electoral college. I for one, would prefer to see the 17th amendment repealed.

Care to explain how the electoral college gives the states any leverage on the federal government?

[Flip Flop]

Care to explain how the electoral college gives the states any leverage on the federal government?

It forces the president to be the president of the United States instead of the president of the major population centers. Doing away with the electoral college would concentrate one third of he federal government in the most populous areas of the country.

[falconstwopercentsized]

Never understood the walmart mentality democrats possess. the whole one size fits all government brand disgust me

[Free Radical]

Never understood

Never Understood: The story of Ed

[Psychic Gibbon]

It forces the president to be the president of the United States instead of the president of the major population centers. Doing away with the electoral college would concentrate one third of he federal government in the most populous areas of the country.

You certainly have a glorified view of the Electoral College. Tell me, when is the last time presidential candidates bothered to do tough campaigning outside of swing states? As far as I can tell these campaigns focus entirely on states like Florida, Ohio, and Colorado and ignore everyone else outside of token nationwide ads. Likewise, voting for the losing candidate of the state you vote in is basically a wasted vote in in this system since the national popular vote is practically worthless.

[falconstwopercentsized]

Never Understood: The story of Ed

most genius isn't

[Flip Flop]

You certainly have a glorified view of the Electoral College. Tell me, when is the last time presidential candidates bothered to do tough campaigning outside of swing states? As far as I can tell these campaigns focus entirely on states like Florida, Ohio, and Colorado and ignore everyone else outside of token nationwide ads. Likewise, voting for the losing candidate of the state you vote in is basically a wasted vote in in this system since the national popular vote is practically worthless.

So, Californiana doesnt matter to Presidential politics. You must be the head of the class.

[Psychic Gibbon]

So, Californiana doesnt matter to Presidential politics. You must be the head of the class.

In the grand scheme of things it doesn't. It's pretty much a guarantee that California will go to the Democrats in any given presidential election. The only states that matter are ones that typically swing to one side or the other, such as Ohio and Florida, which is why virtually all the attention if focused on those states by the campaigns. Likewise, your vote is essentially worthless if you vote for the person who loses your state since the national popular vote means nothing outside of giving media outlets something else to track.

Maybe if you weren't stuck in the concrete operational stage of cognitive development and were capable of abstract thought this would be easier to understand for you.

[Flip Flop]

In the grand scheme of things it doesn't. It's pretty much a guarantee that California will go to the Democrats in any given presidential election. The only states that matter are ones that typically swing to one side or the other, such as Ohio and Florida, which is why virtually all the attention if focused on those states by the campaigns. Likewise, your vote is essentially worthless if you vote for the person who loses your state since the national popular vote means nothing outside of giving media outlets something else to track.

Maybe if you weren't stuck in the concrete operational stage of cognitive development and were capable of abstract thought this would be easier to understand for you.

California's electoral votes have shifted back and forth from Republican to Democrat over history. I like your convoluted way of calling someone stupid. Wy use brevity when you can drone on and on?

[Psychic Gibbon]

California's electoral votes have shifted back and forth from Republican to Democrat over history. I like your convoluted way of calling someone stupid. Wy use brevity when you can drone on and on?

You're missing the larger point. You're likewise dodging the answer to your point that the EC somehow makes the candidates campaign for the entire country instead of major population centers when, in reality, they just focus on swing states instead. Likewise, voting in states where you know a particular candidate is going to win is a wasted vote in the EC system, which is something you keep ignoring.

[Gritzblitz 2.0]

If you think that the pandering and appealing to the lowest common denominator is bad now in presidential politics, just see what would happen if we went to a popular vote.

No, thank you.

[Leon Troutsky]

It forces the president to be the president of the United States instead of the president of the major population centers. Doing away with the electoral college would concentrate one third of he federal government in the most populous areas of the country.

No, it doesn't. Candidate still ignore the small states. How many times has either campaign visited North Dakota this season?

My own preference would be to keep the Electoral College but allocate delegates proportionally. That way Democrats have to defend California and New York while Republicans have to defend Texas and the South.

[Leon Troutsky]

Keep the electoral college. We are the United States not the United State.

Yes, because we have 50 nation-states in this country.

[Leon Troutsky]

So, Californiana doesnt matter to Presidential politics. You must be the head of the class.

It's been two and a half decades since California went to a Republican presidential candidate. It doesn't matter in the sense that candidates no longer spend resources contesting that state.

[kicker]

Keep the electoral college. I don't love the idea of Florida and Ohio deciding elections, but I think an electoral college is better than the popular vote.

[Leon Troutsky]

Keep the electoral college. I don't love the idea of Florida and Ohio deciding elections, but I think an electoral college is better than the popular vote.

Considering that instances of a candidate winning the electoral college but not the popular vote are so rare, what does it matter, functionally speaking? Why do you think having the EC is better than a popular vote?

[kicker]

Considering that instances of a candidate winning the electoral college but not the popular vote are so rare, what does it matter, functionally speaking? Why do you think having the EC is better than a popular vote?

[shc]

I don't like how it promotes a two-party system.

And they need to change the fact that the electors do not have to vote for the candidate that wins the state's popular vote.