WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans favor amending the Constitution to elect presidents based on the popular vote (58%) rather than keeping the current system where the winner is determined by Electoral College votes (39%). The level of support for a popular-vote system has been consistent in most Gallup surveys since the question was first asked in 2000. The main exception was an even division in a poll taken after the 2016 election, in which Hillary Clinton won the popular vote and Donald Trump the electoral vote. Although this situation has been rare, it also occurred in 2000.
The latest update is based on a Sept. 3-15 Gallup poll.
Gallup has found higher support for a popular-vote constitutional amendment in the past using a different question wording. In November 1968, after a closely contested presidential election, 80% of U.S. adults said they “would approve” of an amendment to “do away with the Electoral College and base the election of a president on the total vote cast throughout the nation.”
The November 1968 poll was the high point in support for measurements using that question wording, though most other surveys found at least two-thirds of the public in favor, including in May 1968 (66%), January 1977 (73%) and November 1980 (67%). The lone exception was a January 1967 poll in which 58% approved.
Democrats Favor Popular Vote; Republicans, Electoral College
Since 2000, Democrats have been consistently more likely than Republicans, and independents, to favor amending the Constitution to base the presidential election winner on the popular vote. Democrats’ support, currently at 82%, has been higher since 2016 than before.
Political independents show support that is similar today to what it was in 2000, though they, too, were less supportive of amending the Constitution immediately after the 2016 election.
Partisans’ preferences are generally aligned with whichever format would tend to benefit their party in presidential elections. The Democratic Party has won the popular vote in all but one election since 1992 (the 2004 election). The two elections in which the Electoral College vote winner did not win the popular vote saw Republicans George W. Bush in 2000 and Trump in 2016 become president.
In Gallup polls on the Electoral College in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, Republicans and Democrats tended to be about equally likely to approve of an amendment to abolish the Electoral College. In those surveys, an average of 70% of Republicans and 66% of Democrats (and 74% of independents) approved of changing the Constitution to elect the president based on the popular vote.
Bottom Line
If it were up to a simple majority of Americans, the Constitution would be amended to elect the president based on the nationwide popular vote. But the Constitution specifically gives electors in each state the task of electing the president, and constitutional amendments have been rare in the nation’s history.
Support for abolishing the Electoral College is lower now than in the 20th century, largely because partisan divisions have emerged. The recognition that each approach -- the popular vote and Electoral College -- favors a different party complicates reaching national consensus on the matter.
The current system arose from a compromise between constitutional framers wanting citizens to directly elect the president and those wanting Congress to choose the chief executive. The founders decided to create a temporary, intermediate body between voters and elected officials to make the choice.
The possibility of amending the Constitution is remote, given the need for supermajority support in Congress, or the alternative of two-thirds of states calling for a convention to change it. Regardless of the approach, three-quarters of states would then need to ratify the amendment.
As an alternative to an amendment, a group of states has entered into a compact to award their states’ electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. That agreement would go into effect once participating states' electoral votes total 270 (the number a candidate needs to win the presidency). The 17 states (along with the District of Columbia) currently committed to the agreement total 209 electoral votes. Other states are considering adopting the proposal. If that compact went into effect, it would be sure to face legal challenges from supporters of the Electoral College process, and federal courts (if not the U.S. Supreme Court) would most likely decide the issue.
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