General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Only thing worse than The Electoral College are right-wing halfway measures to change it. [View all]NYC Liberal
(20,135 posts)Right now margins of victory in individual states don't matter. Whether Obama wins a safe state like California by a million votes or by 10 million, he gets all 55 electoral votes. But it's a safe state, so he doesn't need to spend time there to increase his margin. A popular vote system would mean that instead of having to spend time in states like Iowa, Obama would spend the vast majority of his time in California and the Northeast trying to get as many people there who already support him out to vote. Romney would do likewise in Texas and the South. Instead of having to appeal to a broad, diverse swath of the population, candidates would simply run to the extremes in regions where they already have heavy support. Obama would focus on getting 95% of the vote in California instead of 55%. That would make for an extremely divided country with a president who never has to garner support from across the country to be elected. Presidents would be elected by the major population centers and the regions where their solid base is concentrated.