Despite 24/7 complaints from Democrats that Hillary Rodham Clinton won the popular vote, support for the Electoral College system, which President-elect Trump won, has surged since the election.
Now, for the first time in nearly five decades, the country is deadlocked on keeping the system, reversing years of support for making the popular vote winner the president.
Gallup reported that support for the Electoral College jumped from 35 percent to 47 percent. And opposition declined from 62 percent to 49 percent.
“This year, for the first time in the 49 years Gallup has asked about it, less than half of Americans want to replace the Electoral College with a popular vote system. The reason for this shift in opinion is clear: In the aftermath of this year’s election, the percentage of Republicans wanting to replace the Electoral College with the popular vote has fallen significantly,” said Gallup.
True that.
Gallup said, “Currently, 19 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents favor basing the winner on the popular vote, down from 49 percent in October 2004 and 54 percent in 2011. Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents already widely favored having the popular vote determine the winner and are slightly more likely to do so now than in the past.”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
