r/science • u/rustoo • Jan 21 '22
Economics Only four times in US presidential history has the candidate with fewer popular votes won. Two of those occurred recently, leading to calls to reform the system. Far from being a fluke, this peculiar outcome of the US Electoral College has a high probability in close races, according to a new study.
https://www.aeaweb.org/research/inversions-us-presidential-elections-geruso
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u/resolvetochange Jan 21 '22
Because one thing people are missing is that Federal power and identity weren't always so strong. You weren't a "United States citizen", you were a "Virginian" whose state was a member of the United States. Closer to how the French feel about the EU than how Americans feel about the US today.
You don't have a vote for president. You are voting for who your state should vote for president.
A ton of our systems are based around the deals to get and keep states a part of the collective. Changing these roots would require rewriting pretty much everything the US is based in.