Summary: On election day, November 8, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote for the presidency of the United States by .2% of the votes. However, Donald Trump became the president of the United States because of the electoral college votes. This has happened in the past, the most recent being George W. Bush's campaign 16 years ago. The reason this particular instance is significant is because Trump based his campaign around the fact that the government and the political system are "corrupt" and that the election is "rigged." His supporters generally believed that the electoral college needed to be checked and controlled. However, the electoral college all but saved him.
Analysis: This article was published on November 11, 2016, by William Howell to address the irony of the situation of this election. I didn't know about his open opposition to the electoral college, but his words against it shock me after the election results. In 2012, Trump tweeted "the electoral college is a disaster to democracy." Now, I doubt he would admit to those words or so openly state them. It amazes me that a president who is says such negative things about our government system is going to be the next president of the United States. It's important for us to stay aware of what our leaders are saying and the actions they are taking as they lead.
Synthesis: This is similar to the election of 1824, when Andrew Jackson won the popular vote, but John Quincy Adams became president.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/09/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-popular-vote/
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/11/opinions/winning-the-popular-vote-losing-the-election-howell/
It's still a little confusing on why the electoral college has the final say on this. I've heard many people question the importance of voting if the popular vote doesn't determine the president.
ReplyDeleteThe whole system is outdated and doesn't really make much sense. We need to fix a lot of things about our government, the electoral college being one of the major issues. Our country was founded on the idea of popular sovereignty but that has lost its power and it's really disappointing and saddening.
ReplyDelete-Linnea Soderlund
First off I hate Trump. But I disagree that our system is dated. What it sounds like your saying is that you want a direct democracy and I don't think that would be right. If we had a democracy there wouldn't be any politicians. The people would be the politicians and no one would have any job but to vote. The USA is a democratic republic and that means that we elect politicians to represent our political beliefs. So the people did basically vote on this election. Also I think that there is this common misconception as of right now due to the terrible result, that the people voted and that was the popular vote and then the electoral college deiced something else. No. People voted in different states as a majority so when Wisconsin and Pennsylvania were claimed republican it just meant more people voted republican then democrat in that state, meaning that the congressman (as there job) voted on behalf of the people because they had voted for Trump (R.I.P.). So the electoral college is not corrupt at all, its just a system to keep a balance power between the states when they are directly contributing to the national government and yes sadly the people did vote for Trump, and the congressman in the electoral college were doing there job for their state, and their country for that matter to reflect what the people in their state voted for. So if you want to blame anyone, blame the people in Wisconsin, Florida, and Pennsylvania, who would have voted for Hillary but didn't. This is why its important to vote.
DeleteYah, I hate Trump. I don't want to explain the electoral college to you but, it work in a way where the popular vote in each state is represented through the votes of the congress man of the state; in a way Trump did win the popular vote from the people. Due to his success in certain states that mattered he was able claim the white house. Texas is a great example of where that .2% comes from. Texas may have voted republican but that doesn't mean 100% at all, it means that they voted the as majority republic. SO that being said, it means that those who voted democrat in Texas, did not have a direct influence on the outcome of the election. This problem is also influenced by gerrymandering which happens whenever there is a national census. I think it was in Regan's presidency when the Texan republican senators redrew the voting lines in Texas to tilt the power in favor of the republican party. This is not just the republican party, the democrats do this too. Its taking advantage of the system, and its not well known by a lot of people, so its not often complained about. This is one of the drawbacks from having a democratic republic vs. a direct democracy. Then again we as a country elected those congress man so the people really did decide upon the election because we choose the people who vote on behalf of our state wide election. A lot of people don't really think down ballot voting matters a lot, but it does in instance like this.
ReplyDeleteGreat subject to write an article on!
This saddens me to hear, especially since democracy is about the people, and the people clearly were calling for a more fit president.
ReplyDeleteI think we need to update our system because some things just don't seem right, also i know many people wonder why popular vote doesn't count
ReplyDeleteI agree, it is so annoying that what he bashed the government for was the sole thing that won him the Presidency. It is also very frustrating that Hillary won the popular vote and didnt win the presidency as she deserved. On the bright side, she won the popular vote, meaning more people voted for her, so that is a little bit of encouragement.
ReplyDelete