What is the popular vote and how does it work?
The popular vote is simply the total votes cast for each candidate across the whole of the United States. The candidate with the most votes across the nation is said to have won the popular vote. Winning over the majority of voters in the US doesn't always mean a candidate will win the election though.
Is it possible to elect the US President by popular vote?
The short answer is: no, not right now. However, many states are taking measures towards electing the president by a popular vote. The National Popular Vote is a nonprofit working to implement a national popular vote for president, by creating an agreement among the states to elect by national popular vote.
What is the difference between the Electoral College and the popular vote?
When we receive the results from any presidential election, we are give two different results: the Electoral College and the popular vote. The popular vote is simply which candidate has received the most total votes. Are we getting rid of the Electoral College? The short answer is: no, not right now.
What does the National Popular Vote compact mean for US elections?
The Compact will go into effect only when states controlling at least 270 electoral votes have joined. In the election after that threshold is reached, the NPV states would ensure that the winner of the national popular vote becomes president.
What is a popular vote?
What is the most simplistic form of election?
How many electors does the President have?
How are elections decided?
How do you determine the winner of an election?
Did George Bush win the popular vote?
See more
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what is popular vote?
Reserved power is a political power that is not enumerated or prohibited by a constitution, but instead is reserved by the constitution for a specified political authority, such as a state government.
Popular vote Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
Popular vote definition, the vote for a U.S. presidential candidate made by the qualified voters, as opposed to that made by the electoral college. See more.
What is the 'popular vote'? : canada - reddit
If the Liberals won 170 ridings by a margin of one vote each, and the Conservatives won the other 168 ridings taking every single vote in each of them, then the Conservatives would have greater than 95% of the popular vote, and the Liberals would have only 5% of the popular vote, whereas the actual number of MPs elected would be a much closer 170 to 168.
Popular Vote explained in the Election Glossary - POLYAS
Popular Vote. The term “popular vote” has two different meanings. The first simply refers to a democratic vote which has been put to an entire electorate, which could be in the form of an election or referendum.
What is the popular vote?
The popular vote is simply the total votes cast for each candidate across the whole of the United States.
Which state has the most electoral votes?
California is the most populous (over 38 million people) and has 55 electoral votes – more than any other.
How are presidents elected?
According to the US Constitution, presidents are elected by the electoral college , not directly by the people. However, presidents who do not also win the popular vote may struggle to claim a mandate. Donald Trump is said to have a "deep fear" he was not elected legitimately and has suggested there was widespread vote tampering as an explanation ...
How many electors are there in the US?
Each of the 50 US states and the District of Columbia (which is not part of any state) is allocated a proportion of the total of 538 electors, according to their population. These electors then choose a president according to how people voted in their state - which may be very different from the national tally.
Did Donald Trump win the 2016 election?
DONALD Trump may have won a landslide in the 2016 presidential election - but his rival Hillary Clinton actually got almost three million more votes across the USA.
Did Donald Trump win the popular vote in 2016?
Donald Trump has claimed he would have won the popular vote in 2016 if the voting system was not rigged Credit: AFP - Getty. The reality star turned politician has claimed the system is rigged, saying he would have won easily if not for the "the millions of people who voted illegally".
What states are part of the National Popular Vote?
The National Popular Vote, Explained. In 2019, Colorado, New Mexico, Delaware and Oregon became the latest states to take a stand against the Electoral College and join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPV). The NPV is a multi-state agreement that, when active, would ensure that the presidential candidate who wins ...
How many electoral votes will be given to the biggest vote-getter in 2020?
However, this does not mean that these states will award their collective 24 electoral votes to the biggest national vote-getter in 2020. There’s still more work to be done before we can wave goodbye to the current function of the Electoral College — one of the most fundamentally undemocratic parts of U.S. elections.
Why not stick with the Electoral College?
The Electoral College is one of the most unique — and undemocratic — elements of the U.S. government. It was originally included in the Constitution as a means to thwart direct democracy. Many of the framers of the Constitution were uncomfortable with giving power to the people, and in part devised the Electoral College as a democratic bypass. The Electoral College was also designed to protect the influence of slave states. Under a provision that counted slaves as three-fifths of a person for purposes of representation in Congress, Southern slave states gained outsize influence in selecting the president. The system has endured despite the expansion of suffrage and the abolition of slavery.
When has the Electoral College picked the “wrong winner”?
Bush. And in 2016, Donald Trump won the Electoral College by a larger margin than Bush despite receiving 2.9 million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton.
How many attempts have been made to abolish the electoral college?
But the system remains intact despite numerous attempts to abolish it in the last two centuries — more than 700, according to the Congressional Research Service.
What are the problems with the electoral college?
But the problems with the Electoral College extend beyond its historical roots. Basing the elector count off of congressional delegations continues to give disproportionate voting power to people in smaller states. For example, Wyoming voters have nearly four times as much influence as California voters do.
Why was the electoral college created?
The Electoral College was also designed to protect the influence of slave states.
How to use "popular vote" in a sentence?
How to use popular vote in a sentence. When he did lose the popular vote in 2016 and the presidency in 2020, he claimed that those losses were unfair or the result of cheating. They succeeded in getting it to a popular vote in Berkeley, but it was ultimately defeated.
What is the meaning of "vote"?
the vote for a candidate, issue, etc., made by the qualified voters, as opposed to a vote made by elected representatives.
How many votes did JFK win in the King case?
Despite such intense study, it has always been hard to prove that the King case provided the pivotal moment of such a close election, in which JFK won the popular vote by just 118,574 votes. The simple, awful truth is that free speech has never been particularly popular in America.
Is free speech popular in America?
The simple, awful truth is that free speech has never been particularly popular in America.
Did the Berkeley riots get a popular vote?
They succeeded in getting it to a popular vote in Berkeley, but it was ultimately defeated.
What is the popular vote?
The popular vote is the sum of legally cast ballots for an electoral candidate. Depending upon the jurisdiction, the candidate wins with either a majority or plurality. In the US the one exception is the US President and Vice-President, who are elected indirectly rather than directly, as were US Senators until passage of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution .
Who is elected by the popular vote?
Governors, senators, representatives, legislators, mayors, etc. are ALL elected by this so-called “popular vote.” That is to say, the actual vote.
How often are the electors selected?
In each state Electors equal in number to the sum of Representatives and Senators are selected every four years, pledged to support a candidate for President and their running mate. They are generally selected by plurality of the popular vote (the most, not necessarily more than half) in
Why does the popular vote matter?
But in addition to this methodology, the popular vote matters because the newly-elected President often sees his popular vote percentage as a sign of how much influence he has with the voters. Presidents who win clear majorities of the popular vote often consider themselves validated for major initiatives. But sometimes Presidents fail to win a majority, but still are considered successes as President, such as Bill Clinton (took less than 50% the vote in both 1992 and 1996, but remains popular today).
How many electors are there in the US presidential election?
These elections are won with a majority (270) of the 538 Electors. The Electors come from the states as follows:
What is the winner take all vote?
In the two exception states, the statewide winner gets 2 electors pledged to them, the balance of the electors from that state are chosen at the congressional district level - 1 per district - in a winner take all election counting only the votes cast by residents of the district.
How is the president of the United States determined?
The United States of America is not just a fancy name, it refers to the fact that we are a federal republic of states. Therefore, the President of the United States is determined by the aggregated results of all the state votes, and the electoral votes in each state are determined by the popular vote in each state.
What is the popular vote?
The popular vote is simply which candidate has received the most total votes.
What is the national popular vote?
The National Popular Vote is a nonprofit working to implement a national popular vote for president, by creating an agreement among the states to elect by national popular vote. The compact will go into effect when enacted by states possessing a majority of the electoral votes (270).
Why do some people want to abolish the Electoral College?
Often with many electoral votes at stake, these are where candidates spend most of their time and resources competing for votes. These states have a lot of power and can decide the outcome of a presidential election.
What states have an advantage with the Electoral College? And which states are at a disadvantage?
The makeup of the United States has changed a lot since the implementation of the Electoral College. Because of the distribution of electoral votes, some believe the Electoral College actually gives an advantage to some states.
What are electors?
Electors are people chosen by their state parties prior to the general election who cast their vote for president on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. On Election Day, voters cast their vote for president and the winner of the popular vote in each state is awarded their party’s slate of electors.
What happens if a candidate doesn't receive 270 votes?
If no candidate receives 270 Electoral College votes, the president is then selected by the House of Representatives. Each state gets a single vote.
Why do people in states that have a large population but are not battleground states lose the value of their own vote?
Meanwhile, people in states that have a large population but are not battleground states lose the value of their own vote because electoral votes are already decided and there is less incentive for candidates to spend time campaigning in that state.
What is the National Popular Vote?
The National Popular Vote (NPV) plan guarantees election of the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The NPV plan is a state statute in the form of an interstate compact. It creates an agreement among states to award all of their electoral votes collectively to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote. This agreement takes effect only once the participating states together hold a majority of electoral votes (270 of 538)--guaranteeing that the winner of the national popular vote will win an Electoral College majority.
What does passing NPV mean?
Passing NPV will guarantee election of the national popular vote winner once the compact has been joined by enough states to make it decisive for determining the outcome of future elections. Until that point, a state’s current rules apply.
What is a popular vote?
Definition of a Popular Vote. A popular vote works just like it sounds. A group of people vote on an issue or candidate. The votes are then tallied, and the issues or candidates are rank-ordered. The person or issue with the most votes wins. Therefore, a popular vote is really just a method of selecting a candidate or adopting an issue based on ...
What is the most simplistic form of election?
In summary, a popular vote is simply a vote in which the individual or issue with the most total votes from a population of voters is the winner. It is perhaps the most simplistic form of an election. Because of its simplicity, it is a system that is used in numerous arenas.
How many electors does the President have?
The president must earn an absolute majority, or more than half of the available electors. There are 538 available electors in the United States so a president must earn a minimum of 270. So, instead of each American's vote being tallied as a popular vote, their representatives or 'electors' vote for them. For this reason, it is possible ...
How are elections decided?
Not all elections are decided by popular vote. For example, in the United States, presidential elections are decided through the Electoral College. Stated simply, each state has a certain number of electors. Each state has as many electors as they do members of Congress. The president must earn an absolute majority, or more than half of the available electors. There are 538 available electors in the United States so a president must earn a minimum of 270.
How do you determine the winner of an election?
There are many ways to determine the winner of an election. One of the most common and simple methods is the popular vote. In this lesson, you will learn what constitutes a popular vote and how it works.
Did George Bush win the popular vote?
Bush and Al Gore were the two leading presidential candidates. Of course we know that George Bush would become president. However, he did not win the popular vote. The race was incredibly close and ended in controversy over how votes were collected and counted.