Electoral College Essay
Sam Thompson
1/12/14
‘The electoral college should be replaced by a national popular vote.’ Discuss. (45 marks)
The Electoral College is a political institution that every 4 years is indirectly given the task of electing the president and vice-president of the United States of America into power. The idea behind the Electoral College is that it would give power to people that know politics so that they can make an informed decision on who should be president. This institution is a staple of the US constitution, and is something the Framers wrote about in great detail. However, in recent times this system has come under scrutiny and there are now many arguments that suggest the Electoral College (EC) should be scrapped and replaced by a national popular vote.
One of the biggest problems with the Electoral College is that under the system you don’t need a majority of the national popular vote to win the election; in fact there have been cases, such as the 2000 election where the winner of the election did not even win the popular vote. In the 2000 election, George W. Bush faced off against Al Gore- the incumbent Vice-President. Throughout the election campaign the polls were coming up close- and the result was that indeed. Gore got 48.4% of the popular vote (50,999,897), whereas Bush lost on the popular vote as he only received 47.9% (50,456,002). However, Bush won in the Electoral College and therefore won the election. Bush received 271 EC votes compared to Gore’s 267. This result had even more controversy surrounding it as it all came down to the swing state Florida, there were a number of votes which had a ‘hanging Chad’ and were deemed by the Supreme Court to be ruled out as counted votes. This ruling meant that Bush won Florida, and the election. Since then there has been much call for change to the electoral system as Bush was able to become president without actually winning the national popular vote. This means that there were more people in the country
1/12/14
‘The electoral college should be replaced by a national popular vote.’ Discuss. (45 marks)
The Electoral College is a political institution that every 4 years is indirectly given the task of electing the president and vice-president of the United States of America into power. The idea behind the Electoral College is that it would give power to people that know politics so that they can make an informed decision on who should be president. This institution is a staple of the US constitution, and is something the Framers wrote about in great detail. However, in recent times this system has come under scrutiny and there are now many arguments that suggest the Electoral College (EC) should be scrapped and replaced by a national popular vote.
One of the biggest problems with the Electoral College is that under the system you don’t need a majority of the national popular vote to win the election; in fact there have been cases, such as the 2000 election where the winner of the election did not even win the popular vote. In the 2000 election, George W. Bush faced off against Al Gore- the incumbent Vice-President. Throughout the election campaign the polls were coming up close- and the result was that indeed. Gore got 48.4% of the popular vote (50,999,897), whereas Bush lost on the popular vote as he only received 47.9% (50,456,002). However, Bush won in the Electoral College and therefore won the election. Bush received 271 EC votes compared to Gore’s 267. This result had even more controversy surrounding it as it all came down to the swing state Florida, there were a number of votes which had a ‘hanging Chad’ and were deemed by the Supreme Court to be ruled out as counted votes. This ruling meant that Bush won Florida, and the election. Since then there has been much call for change to the electoral system as Bush was able to become president without actually winning the national popular vote. This means that there were more people in the country