There are a number of differences, but if we assume that you are exclusively referring to the election for the US President, the difference comes down to how the votes are weighed. A direct election for US President would result in the election of that president regardless of where those votes came from. In the electoral college system, each state is considered to have its own vote for the US President. Once the US President has won a particular state, all of the state's electoral votes (based on the sum total of senators and representatives from that state) go to that Presidential candidate. It does not matter if the US President won that state by a few votes or a landslide, he gets the whole state. (Nebraska is the lone exception to this policy). The benefit of the electoral system is that it forces Presidents to take small states seriously, but the advantage of the direct election system is that every vote actually matters, not just those in swing states.
Long answer. Go to Hillsdale college and take course on differences.
representative democracy
The Electoral College is a group of citizens who are elected and act as representatives of the states in the USA, put into place to vote for, and elect the President and Vice President. It was created in 1787. Some people wanted a representative democracy, and some people wanted a direct democracy. With the Electoral College System, it was a compromise between the two. With the Electoral College System, the people could indirectly elect the President.
It is not an essential part of a democratic system.
The United States is the only example of a country in the world which uses an electoral college to indirectly elect the executive, so every other democracy is one without an electoral college.
representative democracy
The 2008 Electoral College had 31 votes for New York and 21 votes for Pennsylvania.
Long answer. Go to Hillsdale college and take course on differences.
Firstly because the electoral college does not wholly decide who becomes the next president. Even though there have been disputed cases where the electoral college makes an unpopular decision this is not at all the norm. Voting is a constitutional right and a fundamental aspect of democracy which makes a difference in who gets elected. Especially because the electoral college is only involved in presidential elections. Otherwise it is entirely up the people who is elected to positions such as state representative, state senator, and local positions like the school board or probate judge.
Americans have political representation in both the House of Representative and the Senate
The electoral college (A+)
The electoral college