Minnesota governor and Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz recently expressed support for abolishing the Electoral College in favor of a national popular vote. Speaking at a fundraiser hosted by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Walz emphasized that while many share this sentiment, the likelihood of seeing such a change in the current political landscape remains slim.
“I think all of us know the Electoral College needs to go,” Walz said. “We need a national popular vote, but that’s not the world we live in.”
The system, established by the framers of the Constitution as a compromise between electing the president by Congress or through a direct popular vote, produced controversial outcomes in recent elections.
In both the 2000 and 2016 elections, the Electoral College awarded the presidency to candidates who lost the popular vote, raising questions about the fairness and modern relevance of the system.
Critics argue that the Electoral College allows presidential candidates to focus their campaigns on a few key battleground states, neglecting large parts of the country where outcomes are considered predictable.
Meanwhile, defenders of the system said it ensures that smaller states, which could be overlooked in a national popular vote, have a voice in presidential elections.
A significant movement has gained traction in recent years to work around the Electoral College without changing the Constitution. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is an agreement among a growing number of states to allocate their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the national popular vote, regardless of the state’s own outcome.
Currently, 17 states and the District of Columbia have signed on to the pact, but it will only go into effect once enough states have joined to represent at least 270 electoral votes, the number needed to win the presidency.
Public support for moving away from the Electoral College is strong. A Pew Research poll found that 63% of Americans favor a shift to the popular vote, though support varies significantly along party lines. Democrats are overwhelmingly in favor of the change, while Republicans are more divided on the issue, with some arguing that the Electoral College serves to balance the interests of smaller and rural states.
Since 1888, only two U.S. presidents have won the White House without securing the popular vote: George W. Bush in 2000 and Donald Trump in 2016.
Despite the increasing push for reform, political analysts caution that significant changes to the Electoral College are unlikely to happen in the near future. For now, the Electoral College remains a deeply entrenched part of U.S. elections.
