32 thoughts on “The astounding advantage the Electoral College gives to Republicans, in one chart”

  1. I guess the Dems better put up a tandem that can pull 3% more than the Liar in Chief.

    And it will help if the dissatisfied masses get off their asses and actually vote.

    I’ve lost track of the those who felt the “burn” and chose to sit home in protest (great display of emotional maturity and pragmatism) and thereby helped elect a buffoon.

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    1. Combined with nationwide GOP voter suppression tactics (closing polling places, purging voter rolls without due process, etc.) this just shows that actually not even 3% can make a difference. As it is state electoral votes that ultimately decide the election, it will take 3% in almost every state. IMHO.

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    1. “immediately jump” ??

      If that was in reply to my post; I simply picked an example and commented on my anecdotal experience with many of the Bernie supporters I know.

      Across the board many sel-described Democrats (as well as Independents) stayed home because trump had “no chance”.

      Sorry if I hit too close to home…

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      1. It was a response to you. Forgot to hit “reply.”

        It may be a personal anecdote, but it is one that is often used to explain away Clinton’s loss, and as it turns out, grossly exaggerated.

        And as we all know, participation really only matters if you live in one of the swing states. The rest of the map is already penciled in.

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        1. Mostly true, and its true impact will never be known. Keep in mind that “greatly exaggerated” and of “no impact” are very different.

          I just hope people in opposition to this administration’s corruption and stupidity exercise their ability to remove it.

          Heck I’d even vote for one of the demented old men being considered if I had to…

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  3. Interesting article. A few notes:

    Here’s the money quote: “The Electoral College has, at various times, given an advantage to Democrats, Republicans, and the now-defunct Whig Party.”
    Probabilities don’t cause outcomes. If either party has better odds of winning the EC at any given time, that doesn’t mean they will.
    The purpose of the EC is not to produce popular government. It is to produce stable government.
    One of the advantages of the EC is that it produces a decisive outcome in every national contest.

    All in all the study doesn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know. The Electoral College will always seem unfair to some people, even if it isn’t, really.

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    1. “The purpose of the EC is not to produce popular government.”

      That’s your money quote and you are correct; however, most of us believe this is wrong. For some reason, some of you believe democracy is a bad thing.

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    2. RE: “For some reason, some of you believe democracy is a bad thing.”

      Democracy is a ‘bad thing.’ This has been known and well-understood for more than 2,000 years, going back to Plato.

      The Founders created the Electoral College to allow for democracy within limits, hoping to capture its benefits while curbing its excesses.

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        1. RE: “You’re going to have to do better than ‘marble statues and slave holders thought so’ to sound even remotely credible.”

          I don’t have to do anything, since my credibility isn’t at issue.

          Besides, if you think Plato and the Founders are somehow irrelevant, then the credibility problem is yours, not mine.

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      2. Naw, the Electoral College was (and is) a flawed compromise by the Founders that has resulted in the current incompetent leadership we have today.

        Of course part of the problem is a supine Congress that no longer serve as a separate branch of Government.

        Moscow Mitch waiting for “permission” to debate and legislate is criminal.

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  4. “The Electoral College will always seem unfair to some people”

    And it will always BE unfair to the majority of people when someone with less votes is put in power…

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    1. RE: “it will always BE unfair”

      We can have an “unfair” but stable system, or a “fair” but unstable one.

      I choose “unfair” but stable.

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    2. And as soon as it is a Republican who loses the EC while gaining the majority in the popular vote, nothing is going to change. And even then, the Dems will tout the values of the EC by showing how it is the will of the people.

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  5. We are a representative form of democracy.

    Voters in districts located in states around the country vote for whom will best represent their interests in Congress in the House.

    Then voters also select whom will best represent their entire state regardless of how populous the state may be. That being the Senate, of course.

    So districts are represented, states are represented and the two entities form the actual law making branch of the nation, subject to affirmation by the president and, if needed, approval by the SCOTUS.

    So whom does the president represent? Considering that he is CINC of our nation’s military and the head administrator of our nation’s laws as promulgated by majorities in Congress, his constituents are all Americans.

    All the citizens in a district vote directly for a Congressman. All the people in a state vote directly for Senators.
    So all Americans should vote directly for a President.

    IMHO

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    1. RE: “So all Americans should vote directly for a President.”

      The Electoral College math does exactly that, not counting the winner-take-all effect. Winner-take-all produces an exaggerated result that makes the people’s choice unambiguous in an otherwise close election.

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  6. This is what Bill Gates refers to as a feature, not a bug.

    Democracies have short lives and die ugly deaths. I would not want to subject my grandchildren to the horrors of democracy.

    That’s why are republic was established with safeguards against democracy. Many of those safeguards have already fallen, such as the enumerated powers .

    If we lost the Electoral College, the country would not last another 20 years before the avarice and authoritarian lusts of urban dwellers drove the Heartland to secede.

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      1. How many days would it take for urban areas to run out of food and fuel if supplies from outside were stopped?

        I think the heartland’s bank accounts would last longer than the food on the grocery store’s shelves or the gasoline in the gas station’s storage

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          2. Soybeans are fungible?

            So why the bailout?

            It could be that soybean farmers are terrible business people.

            Or maybe there are other products that suffer market losses.

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    1. Archer Daniels Midland is headquartered in Chicago and that’s their tax address, how many farms do they have there? Allstate insurance is headquartered in Northbrook, a Chicago suburb, are all the houses and cars they insure located there?

      The same is true of most large corporations whose tax addresses are in major cities, that’s not where the corporation’s wealth comes from. Further, lots of investment banks and hedge funds are located, and pay taxes in cities, but what they are invested in is rarely in the city itself.

      Where the corporation’s tax address is is pretty much meaningless if the Heartland decides to take its ball and go home. It’s where things are grown, mined and made that really matters.

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      1. But they still need a market. The success of our nation lies in the exchange of goods and services. Republicans in the red states are trying to, and succeeding to a degree, to divide the nation by pitting the rural states against the coasts.

        After all, there are votes to be gotten by calling the blue states home for godless deviants who can’t shoot straight and kill babies for breakfast meat.

        The fact that taxes still flow from left to right. And violent crime rates in the most conservative red states is much higher than the rest of America.

        But that is not enough. Now you are suggesting they secede.

        Sheesh.

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        1. I didn’t suggest they secede.

          I said the Electoral College helps make that unnecessary. It protects the Heartland from the avarice and abuse of the urban voters. Take it away and that will make the stresses between the urban majority and the productive Heartland come to a head.

          I want us all to get along with voluntary trade but the tyranny of the majority might make that unworkable.

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        2. Republicans don’t have to pit the Heartland against the cities. The urban voters are doing that just fine,.

          They are telling us how to farm and recover resources, what kind of car or truck we can buy, and what firearms we can own.They do that with no knowledge of nor empathy for those who need a pickup truck to do their jobs or have their fun. They are authoritarian to their core and are incapable of minding their own business.

          The GOP doesn’t have to do anything. They can pull up a lawn chair and pop a beer and watch the show.

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          1. Your rural elitism is on full display.

            If they are so put out, that might explain why they are controlling people’s lives in the bedroom.

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          2. Len,

            When in the last decade have you seen anyone try to legislate anyone else’s sex life?

            As long as it is not in public and between consenting adults, no one cares,

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          3. That was an entertaining exchange, feeling the need for a lawn chair and a beer.

            Although I’m not sure how sex or pick-ups are being dictated by either faction….

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      2. And all of those companies will simply move their HQ’s to a tax friendly state, like Delaware. Then they will work to get “international trade agreements” to continue to serve the heartland. And any deal would be worked out for agricultural needs to be purchased from those states. Yet those that are held back now, will continues to be held back and have no social safety net to assist in boosting them into a better life.

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