The reason we use the electoral college is so that a candidate can't just appease California, New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois and tell the rest of the country to f*** off. Or just ignore them all together.
At least that was the idea. (Although I think it was New York and Virginia that were the powerhouses back then)
(I agree though we should definitely use the popular vote).
People have such a short term view of everything. They think the way things are today are how they're going to be forever. California used to vote Republican. The South used to be the Democrat stronghold.
Honestly, I never understood the whole concept. A candidate in any other election would prioritize large, populous areas regardless of what office they were running for. Like is someone in the back woods of West Virginia mad that their local county commissioner had a round table at a local school auditorium instead of driving out to the middle of nowhere to meet them? Probably not. But for some reason we act like a presidential candidate appealing to populous states is a bad thing.
I understand the intention, but what I'm saying is it shouldn't matter. I used a small scale example just to point out how ridiculous it is. It makes no sense that the majority shouldn't decide the outcome of an election. The reason states like California get to decide isn't because they're better, more powerful, or unfairly prioritized. It's because there are TONS of people there. The 4 most populous states make up one third of the entire US population. People in Wyoming shouldn't have disproportionate voting power just because they live in the middle of nowhere.
But that's exactly what is going on now. Do you think anything positive has been done by the current president to help California, New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois?
They have similar problems my state has. High insurance, affordable housing because of housing shortages, and homelessness. The good thing is my state doesn't get earthquakes. M right now food and fuel is a bit pricey.
Obviously, candidates dont get 100% of each state, and, really, the top 8 states by population are pretty even split in (if you align purple states with the party their state leans towards)
California- 40m
Texas- 32m
Florida- 24m
New York- 20m
Pennsylvania- 18m
Illinois- 13m
Georgia- 12m
North Carolina- 11m
But, really, the question i ask people whenever i see the issue you pointed out being discussed is this:
If a majority of americans living in a small number of states want something....how are their opinions less valid than the opinionsjhhhh of LESS americans spread out in a larger number of states?
That's not why we have the EC. It was to appease the slave states. What it does is disenfranchise large swaths of people and candidates all but ignore the most populous states during the General because they're either deep red or deep blue.
The reason we use the electoral college is so that a candidate can't just appease California, New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois and tell the rest of the country to f*** off. Or just ignore them all together.
Yeah, instead they ignore the millions of Republicans in CA and NY and the millions of democrats in Texas and Florida and focus their energy on the fucking morons in bumblefuck Wisconsin.
The reason we use the electoral college is so that a candidate can't just appease California, New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois and tell the rest of the country to f*** off
Our literal system has a candidate appease Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Arizona
The founding fathers wanted senators to elect the president. Not the people in a popular vote. look it up- it’s true. Sometime later it evolved to the electoral college.
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u/EvilCorp____ 10h ago
Pennsylvania is the 5th most populous state.
The reason we use the electoral college is so that a candidate can't just appease California, New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois and tell the rest of the country to f*** off. Or just ignore them all together.
At least that was the idea. (Although I think it was New York and Virginia that were the powerhouses back then)
(I agree though we should definitely use the popular vote).