A simple majority of registered voters are on board with abolishing the Electoral College for presidential elections in favor of the popular vote.
According to a new Hill-HarrisX poll released Tuesday, 51% of respondents said they would be in favor of weakening the influence of states without dense populations on the outcome of the election, whereas 49% believe it should be kept “to distribute voter power among all 50 states.”
The survey reveals a disparity between Republican and Democratic voters, with 33% and 68%, respectively, believing the Electoral College ought to be abolished. However, the gap among independents is narrow, with 51% saying it should remain in the Constitution, versus 49% who believe it should be removed.
Removing the Electoral College would require passing a Constitutional amendment, a difficult process only done 27 times throughout the country’s history. There are two ways to amend the Constitution, though only one strategy has been used.
Two-thirds of both bodies in Congress could pass an amendment for the states to vote on, which would subsequently require approval from at least three-fourths of all states. The second method, though it hasn’t been tried, requires two-thirds of state legislatures to call a Constitutional Convention to initiate the process and a three-fourths approval from the states.
On Monday night, CNN’s Don Lemon debated fellow network host Chris Cuomo, arguing that Democrats should push to eliminate the Electoral College. “We’re going to have to blow up the entire system,” Lemon said, prompting disagreement from Cuomo.
“Honestly, from what your closing argument is,” Lemon continued. “You’re going to have to get rid of the Electoral College. The minority in the country decides who the judge is, and they decide who the president is. Is that fair?”
The survey was conducted among 3,758 registered voters from Sept. 10-14. The margin of error is plus or minus 1.6 percentage points.
