Suddenly, Republicans Want to Do Away With Electoral College

[drakonyx]

A new Gallup poll shows that nearly two-thirds of Americans favor eliminating the Electoral College. Perhaps more significant: A majority of Republicans hold that position ... for the first time since 2000. A total of 53% within the GOP now favor doing away with the Electoral College and electing the president by popular vote.

It's no coincidence that Republicans suddenly want to do away with the Electoral College. It has nothing to do with whether or not they like the hopelessly antiquated institution. It has everything to do with whether or not they think it will help them win.

http://www.theprovocation.net/2011/10/suddenly-republicans-want-to-do-away.html

[Poll_Blind]

1. I don't care what Repukes think, I've always been against the Electoral College. It's antiquated BS

And while we're at it, the Democratic party can do without the absolute bullshit of superdelegates, too.

I'm fine with majority rule. What I'm not fine with is majority* rule.

PB

* Some restrictions apply

[DavidDvorkin]

11. Yes, exactly.

[DCBob]

2. no doubt the EC favors Democrats and Obama currently.

There are some really big blue states that Obama wins automatically. Of course the Rethugs dont care whether that is fair or legitimate or not they simply want to win at all cost... cheating, lying, manipulation, fraud.. whatever it takes.

[tcaudilllg]

3. They only support what favors them.

[yellowcanine]

7. Actually I think the EC doesn't favor either party. You can also argue that Democrats get

a lot of votes in the South which end up not counting because the South goes red. This is particularly true in Texas. And as for fraud, it seems to me that it would be much harder to rig the popular vote outcome than to swing a few states one way or the other through fraud.

[Alcibiades]

8. It does favor the Republican Party

Actually, it favors whichever party appeals to sparsely populated states, thanks to the fact that representation is based on representation in Congress, where smaller states get more representation per voter, thanks to the fact that all states get two senators.




States 2004 Population 2004 Electoral Votes % vs. National Average

Overrepresented states (+DC)

Wyoming 506,529 3 323%
Dist. of Columbia 553,523 3 296%
Vermont 621,394 3 264%
North Dakota 634,366 3 258%
Alaska 655,435 3 250%
South Dakota 770,883 3 212%
Rhode Island 1,080,632 4 202%
Delaware 830,364 3 197%
Montana 926,865 3 177%
Hawaii 1,262,840 4 173%
New Hampshire 1,299,500 4 168%
Maine 1,317,253 4 166%
Idaho 1,393,262 4 157%
Nebraska 1,747,214 5 156%
West Virginia 1,815,354 5 150%
New Mexico 1,903,289 5 143%
Iowa 2,954,451 7 129%
Kansas 2,735,502 6 120%
Arkansas 2,752,629 6 119%
Nevada 2,334,771 5 117%
Utah 2,389,039 5 114%
Mississippi 2,902,966 6 113%
Connecticut 3,503,604 7 109%
Louisiana 4,515,770 9 109%
Alabama 4,530,182 9 108%
Oklahoma 3,523,553 7 108%
Colorado 4,601,403 9 107%
Minnesota 5,100,958 10 107%
Oregon 3,594,586 7 106%
Kentucky 4,145,922 8 105%
Missouri 5,754,618 11 104%
South Carolina 4,198,068 8 104%
Massachusetts 6,416,505 12 102%
Tennessee 5,900,962 11 102%

Underrepresented states

Wisconsin 5,509,026 10 99%
Maryland 5,558,058 10 98%
Washington 6,203,788 11 97%
North Carolina 8,541,221 15 96%
Indiana 6,237,569 11 96%
Virginia 7,459,827 13 95%
Ohio 11,459,011 20 95%
Arizona 5,743,834 10 95%
New Jersey 8,698,879 15 94%
Georgia 8,829,383 15 93%
Michigan 10,112,620 17 92%
Pennsylvania 12,406,292 21 92%
Illinois 12,713,634 21 90%
New York 19,227,088 31 88%
Florida 17,397,161 27 85%
California 35,893,799 55 84%
Texas 22,490,022 34 83%
United States 293,655,404 538 100%

The last column is the most important number, because it expresses the degree to which a given state is over or underrepresented. Of the large, underrepresented states, the only one which is reliably Republican is Texas, whereas most of the small, overrepresented states are reliably Republican or tossup, excepting the New England states, Delaware and DC. The vote of every single voter in Wyoming is effectively weighted so that it is 3.85 times more valuable than the vote of a voter in California.

[yellowcanine]

10. That would be true if it weren't for the the number of states which are "winner take all"

The winner take all provision tends to even out the advantage of the smaller states. That is why the proposal by PA republicans to divide the EC vote according to congressional district winners is so nefarious. The EC only works if most states, particularly the large ones, are winner take all. If you are going to start tinkering with that, then for sure popular vote is fairer. And yes I think we ought to go to a popular vote.

[The Wizard]

4. Thinking of President Al Gore (NT)

[Ganja Ninja]

5. I don't see why we need it.

It's a holdover from revolutionary times but things have changed. We could do away with it and nobody would even notice.

[dotymed]

6. I agree, but first we must do away with electronic

(easily hacked) voting machines. IMO, we should go back to hand counted ballots.

[libinnyandia]

9. Dysfunctional government

We should also get rid of the senate. Wyoming should not have the same number of enators as California.

[yurbud]

12. I would like to see the Senate go the same way.