Скачать или смотреть Why Don't We Get Rid of the Electoral College?

If you believe the polls, there's a real possibility President Obama could lose the popular vote but win an electoral college majority. Which would make him the fourth president in history to win election that way. Why don't we just get rid of the electoral college?

It wouldn't be easy. Abolishing the electoral college requires a constitutional amendment. And that means two thirds of Congress would have to approve the amendment and then three quarters of the states would have to ratify it. Since the issue only comes up every four years and doesn't generally get questioned outside of very close elections, banning the electoral college is not a real political winner.

Three presidents have been elected despite losing the national popular vote—Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, Benjamin Harrison in 1888, and George W. Bush in 2000. And John Quincy Adams in 1824 was elected by the House of Representatives when it was clear no candidate had won an Electoral College majority.

The close polls in 2012 have some obsessing over a potential electoral college tie. In that case, the newly elected and likely Republican majority-led House gets to decide on the president, while the likely Democratic majority-led Senate picks the vice president. Which could mean swearing in President Romney and Vice President Biden on inauguration day in January. Giving new meaning to term ticket-splitting.