The Electoral College plays the most pivotal role in electing our president. Some argue that the electoral college is absolutely necessary. Supporters of the electoral college argue that one of the main reasons the electoral college is important is to encourage candidates to campaign outside of major cities such as New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Candidates are more likely to seek the support from a wider cross-section of the American electorate. The electoral college also allows for more states to have an impact on who gets elected as president. According to the article, “The Electoral College – Top 3 Pros and Cons” , the electoral college was originally created “as a compromise between electing the president via a vote in Congress only or via a popular vote only” However, the debate remains: whether or not the electoral college effectively represents the democracy that America is built on?
There are various pros and cons in support an in opposition to the electoral college. In my opinion, I believe that the electoral college takes away from democratic participation. Since 1824, the electoral college has failed a total of 5 times. It would not be accurate to say that the Electoral college fully represents the vote of the American people. The “winner-take-all” system that the electoral college supports creates political polarization and supports further division among democrats and republicans. There has been growing support for abolishing the electoral college, as stated in the article, “at least 700 amendments have been proposed to modify or abolish the electoral college”. A major con of the electoral college is that it gives too much power to the swing states and the two main political parties gear all of their energy towards winning over those specific states (Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina).
In order to fully represent the wants and needs of the people, I believe that the president should be elected by direct popular vote. Considering that there were over a million people who voted for Hillary Clinton, and Trump ended up winning the election in 2016 shows that there needs to be some sort of change.
