The United States requires 270 electoral votes for a candidate to win the presidency. Since there are a total of 538 votes available, a candidate can lose with 268 votes.
the electoral college is most likely the most unique. As it is possible to lose the popular vote for President but still win the election by the electoral college.
The electoral college system for electing the President is part of the US Constitution and so is quite difficult to change. Without any changes there is considerable leeway on how states choose their electors. Furthermore, it is not at all obvious that the system should be abolished. There are many objections to a direct election . No one has come up with an attractive alternative.
Electors are elected by popular vote but the president is elected by the electoral college. A president candidate can win the popular vote and still not win if he doesn't win the electoral college.
Generally your little brother has to be the governor of the second largest state in the union. You use his political appointments to disenfranchise millions of voters, then allow the supreme court justices your father appointed to name you the president. Or, you could just win the electoral college.
The largest number of states a candidate could win and still lose the election is 39 states, given the Electoral College system where each state's electoral votes are critical. This scenario could result from a candidate winning states with fewer electoral votes while the opponent wins states with larger electoral vote counts.
In the US elections for President and Vice President, the Electoral College actually votes to determine the winner. Many states award their electoral votes "winner take all" so that a narrow victory is the same as an overwhelming one. If one candidate wins most of the very-populous states but not enough electoral votes, their large popular vote in those states does not do them any good. The Electoral College was set up to avoid domination of the Presidency by candidates from the most populous states, at the expense of the more-numerous smaller states.
When referring to the Electoral College and Presidential elections, a candidate can win by taking: California (55 electoral votes) Texas (28 electoral votes) Florida (29 electoral votes) New York (29 electoral votes) Illinois (20 electoral votes) Pennsylvania (20 electoral votes) Ohio (18 electoral votes) Georgia (16 electoral votes) Michigan (16 electoral votes) New Jersey (15 electoral votes) Virginia (14 electoral votes) - a total of 11 states for 270 electoral votes which means a candidate can lose the other 39 states and District of Columbia and still win the election.
Because of the electoral college.The way US Presidential elections work is that the candidate who wins the popular vote in a state receives all the electoral votes of that state (there are a couple of states that do it differently, but most of them are "winner take all").It doesn't matter if you win in that state by one vote or unanimously, you get all the electoral votes. So if you win the states you win by large margins and lose the states you lose by small margins, it's entirely possible for the overall number of votes to show you as the winner, but for you to lose due to receiving fewer electoral votes than your opponent.
Lincoln was elected as the 16th President of the United States, beating Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, John C. Breckinridge of the Southern Democrats, and John Bell of the new Constitutional Union Party. He was the first Republican president, winning entirely on the strength of his support in the North: he was not even on the ballot in nine states in the South, and won only 2 of 996 counties in the other Southern states. Lincoln gained 1,865,908 votes (39.9% of the total), for 180 electoral votes; Douglas, 1,380,202 (29.5%) for 12 electoral votes; Breckenridge, 848,019 (18.1%) for 72 electoral votes; and Bell, 590,901 (12.5%) for 39 electoral votes. There were fusion tickets in some states, but even if his opponents had combined in every state, Lincoln had a majority vote in all but two of the states in which he won the electoral votes and would still have won the electoral college and the election.
The electoral college system in the United States takes power away from the popular vote and gives it to the states. It was designed to balance the interests of smaller states against larger states and ensure that the president is elected by a diverse range of states. This means that a candidate can win the popular vote but still lose the election if they do not secure enough electoral votes.
Originally the electoral college was to allow elections when communication was slow between the states. It was also designed as safety-valve to prevent a "run-away" electorate. The usefullness of this model is currently in debate. George W. Bush won his first term by winning more electoral votes than the popular vote in the country. Problems with popular voting arise as well though. Because states with the highest populations will be where politicians target their campaigns while ignoring lower population states completely. With the electoral model all states still get at minimum 3 electoral votes, which in comparison to california is still small with their 55 votes.
Barack Obama's election win in 2008 was considered significant, but it was not a landslide victory. He won by a comfortable margin, earning 365 electoral votes compared to his opponent's 173. However, it was not a historic landslide like some past elections.
No, the electoral college still exists and likely will for a while. It is a fundamental part of how we choose the president in America. It is in the U.S. Constitution.
The United States requires 270 electoral votes for a candidate to win the presidency. Since there are a total of 538 votes available, a candidate can lose with 268 votes.
The poles we, as citizens, participate in are what's called the popular vote. Unfortunately, this does not have much effect on the end result. In order for a president to be elected, he/she needs the higher number of electoral votes, which are submitted by each state's senate members. (Or house of representatives, I don't remember the specifics... sorry) Generally, the popular vote mirrors the electoral vote because of that state's republican/democratic conditions, but exceptions are known to occur.
A politician running for US President wins electoral votes by securing a majority of electoral college votes (270 out of 538). Each state is allocated a certain number of electoral votes based on its representation in Congress. Winning a state's popular vote typically results in winning all of its electoral votes, except in a few states. Therefore, a candidate needs to campaign and win the popular vote in key battleground states to accumulate enough electoral votes to win the election.