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How is it possible that a candidate could win the popular vote and not be elected president?
Wiki User
∙ 11y ago
The president is actually electors by electors chosen from each state and not by popular vote. Most states award their electors in a winner-take-all basis; the leading vote-getter in the state gets all the electoral votes . Therefore a candidate can win by huge majorities in the states he wins and lose by narrow margins in the states he loses and so pile up a majority of popular votes.
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
Wiki User
∙ 11y agoThe "winner-takes-all" method of appointing electors, which is practiced by 96% of the states, is what makes it possible.
If, for example, a state has ten votes, and 50% of the voters of the state voted for Candidate A, 40% voted for Candidate B, and 10% voted for Candidate C, in the winner-takes-all system, Candidate A gets 100% of the state's ten votes, and Candidates B and C get 0. About 99% of the electors, 533 out of 538, are selected based on the popular vote of their entire state. (Each of the other five are selected based on the popular vote within a different congressional district.)
A common scenario for the winner not having the most popular votes is when, in a close election, the winner won several of the states with the most electoral votes by a slim margin, while the one with the most popular votes had strong support in many small states.
The most extreme case possible would be for the winning candidate to win the 11 largest states by just one vote each and get no votes at all in the other 39 and DC. That would give the winner just over 25% and the loser 75% of the popular vote- not likely but theoretically possible.
Wiki User
∙ 10y agoIf a few heavily populated states - say, New York, Illinois and California - had VERY high turnout for Candidate A, taking like 70-80% of the popular vote, but Candidate B took many of the smaller states by closer votes - say, 55% or 45% - then Candidate B could easily win the election on the Electoral College vote.
We American citizens don't vote for President. Instead, we vote for Electors in the Electoral College. The vote that counts is the Electoral College vote, and that's a good thing. Otherwise, a few big cities with lots of people could be making stupid decisions that would anger the people living everywhere else in the country.
It's already that way, to some extent; look at the voting results by county, and you can already see that 80% of the rural counties went for Romney, and only the cities went for Obama.
Wiki User
∙ 11y agoThe electoral college decides who becomes the president - not the populate vote.
Wiki User
∙ 11y agothey can lose the electoral college vote if the representatives and senators in the electoral college feel that the candidate should not win their state over in the election.
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Electors are elected by popular vote but the president is elected by?
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.
How do electoral votes determined the president?
The candidate who receives the most electoral votes wins the presidency. It is possible to lose the popular vote but win the electoral vote to be elected president.
Is it possible for a candidate who does not receive the majority of the popular vote to become President?
George Bush?
How it is possible that a president can be elected to office without getting the majority of the votes?
The president is elected by the electoral college. When the Constitution was first written, the authors felt that the common man was not educated well enough to elect the proper person as president. The electoral college system was set up to elect the president. Every state has a number of electors equal to the combined number of representatives and senators it has in Congress. When citizens go to the polls and vote, they elect the candidate for which they want their electors to vote. For example, if your state has twelve representatives and two senators, your state would have a total of fourteen electors. If in the election, candidate X defeats candidate Y, even if it is by just one vote, candidate X will receive all fourteen electoral votes from your state. It is therefore possible for a president to be elected without having the most popular votes, although that is a rare possibility.
What is an Electoral Map?
An electoral map is a map of the 50 states of the United States which shows: 1. the number of electoral votes each state has 2. an estimate of how each state is expected to vote for president. Except for Maine and Nebraska, in each state the winner of the popular vote gets all of that state's electoral votes. By estimating which candidate is expected to win the popular vote in each state, it is possible to make an educated guess as to how many electoral votes each candidate will get. From estimating the total each candidate will get it is possible to estimate who will receive the 270 electoral votes needed to be elected president and make an educated guess as to who will be elected president.
Is it possible to win the popular vote and not be elected president?
yes. It is not only possible but has actually happened four times- in 1824,1876,1888 and 2000.
Which amendment makes it possible that a presidential candidate can lose the popular vote but still win the electoral vote?
This phenomenon is not due to any amendment. Amendment 12 changed the procedure for electing the President, but did not actually change the indirect way the President is elected. Popular vote is not mentioned in the Constitution and does not elect directly elect the President and such is the plan in the body of the Constitution.
How was it possible for a candidate who won nearly 20 percent of the popular vote to receive no votes in the electoral college?
Most states always give 100% of their electoral votes to the candidate with a simple majority of popular votes. Therefore, with three candidates, it is theoretically possible to be elected unanimously with only 34% of the popular votes.
How can a presidential candidate can lose the overall popular vote and still become president?
A Presidential candidate can lose the overall popular vote and still become President because the US President is NOT elected by the popular vote. The votes cast by the Electoral College elect the President. This type of thing has happened several times before; this is one reason why Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms.
Does The existence of the Electoral College mean that the president is not elected by the popular vote?
The president of the United States is not elected by direct popular vote, but rather by the electoral college. A mere 538 people, chosen by voters in all the states are the ones who actually elect the president. The candidate with the majority of electoral votes wins the presidency.
Who is the US President chosen by?
The US President is chosen by the Electoral College, which is obligated by law to vote according to the results of the popular election in all but two states. The number of Electors for each state is determined by their population as a percentage of the total US population, counted during the last census. For this reason, it is possible for a candidate to win the national popular election, but lose in the electoral college. Electoral members can and HAVE voted for other then the candidate they were sent to support
A presidential candidate loses a popular election but wins a majority of votes in the electoral college does he become president?
False!!!!Per the US Constitution, the Electoral College actually is the body that elects the President. There have been some elections in the past where the popular vote was won by a candidate, but the Electoral College elected another candidate.
