Electoral v. popular vote - help me out here

[susano]

CNN is saying that Romney has the popular vote. Since the electoral votes are being counted by who wins what state (not on faithless electors defying the popular vote, in December), how can this be?

 

[Seth]

Because it doesn't matter if you win a state with 70% or 50% of the vote, you get the same amount of electoral votes.

 

[susano]

Because it doesn't matter if you win a state with 70% or 50% of the vote, you get the same amount of electoral votes.

Yes, but to win a state (unofficial electoral votes) you win the popular vote.

 

[Seth]

Yes, but to win a state (unofficial electoral votes) you win the popular vote.

Yes, you must win the popular vote of a state to get its electoral votes. CNN is talking about the popular vote for the whole nation.

 

[RonPaulMall]

Don't really understand your question. If you win Florida, for example, by one vote, you win all of Florida's electoral votes. All the states are like that (winner take all) except for Nebraska and Maine. So you can theoretically win 49 states all by a single vote in each state and then lose say, Florida by a 1,000,049 votes and you would have won the electoral college in a landslide but lost the popular vote by a million.

 

[TheGrinch]

Yes, but to win a state (unofficial electoral votes) you win the popular vote.

Because each state is a race in itself. Say you win more states around 55/45, but I have more numbers because the ones I did win I won 70/30. Kinda like that.

 

[susano]

Don't really understand your question. If you win Florida, for example, by one vote, you win all of Florida's electoral votes. All the states are like that (winner take all) except for Nebraska and Maine. So you can theoretically win 49 states all by a single vote in each state and then lose say, Florida by a 1,000,049 votes and you would have won the electoral college in a landslide but lost the popular vote by a million.

Okay, that helps understand.


Where is this happening tonight? Was it Texas giving more numbers to Romney?

 

[susano]

Because each state is a race in itself. Say you win more states around 55/45, but I have more numbers because the ones I did win I won 70/30. Kinda like that.

Yes, thank you. I'm a math tard and could never figure it out.

 

[V3n]

Say there's a city, or two cities with a large population - New York and Los Angeles - combined equal more than the rest of population of the "fly over" states..

Without the electoral college, a candidate could promise these 2 cities, and these 2 cities only, that they will get all the Federal money and protection that the government has to offer, even if it means stealing from the entirety of the rest of the United States..

That would sound real good - if you live in either of those two cities - and if the popular vote was all that mattered.

And that's why we have the Electoral vote.

 

[puppetmaster]

Say there's a city, or two cities with a large population - New York and Los Angeles - combined equal more than the rest of population of the "fly over" states..

Without the electoral college, a candidate could promise these 2 cities, and these 2 cities only, that they will get all the Federal money and protection that the government has to offer, even if it means stealing from the entirety of the rest of the United States..

That would sound real good - if you live in either of those two cities - and if the popular vote was all that mattered.

And that's why we have the Electoral vote.

and people still don't get it