National popular vote?

[oobla37]

I keep seeing an ad on Conjointgaming.com for a proposed national popular vote bill, which would implement a first past the post voting system, or simply, winner take all. This system is no stranger to most of us, and we use it on smaller things, but it's simply goes as every voter gets 1 vote, and the candidate with the most votes wins. I thought this was interesting, I don't have any thoughts on the ad, but simply on the concept of a first past the post system, I personally think it is a very bad idea, but seeing as the election just ended, people probably have varied opinions. Anybody care to comment on the fptp system in general?

[Leomire]

The Electoral College system is retarded. If our government is by the people for the people, then why does the Electoral College's vote carry much more weight than an individual citizens? Each citizens vote should carry the same weight as any others. If the majority of the populous votes for a candidate then that candidate should win.

[Cadaver]

It would take a Constitutional Amendment.  The Constitution was set this way to ensure it is not a popularity contest, but to ensure the best candidate win.   It is complex, and it is overly hard to explain.

Do you want your President elected like the next American Idol?   Well, we could have ended up with a President Sanjaya.

[Leomire]

It would take a Constitutional Amendment.  The Constitution was set this way to ensure it is not a popularity contest, but to ensure the best candidate win.   It is complex, and it is overly hard to explain.

Do you want your President elected like the next American Idol?   Well, we could have ended up with a President Sanjaya.

It already is a popularity contest

[Old Crow]

The Electoral College system is retarded. If our government is by the people for the people, then why does the Electoral College's vote carry much more weight than an individual citizens? Each citizens vote should carry the same weight as any others. If the majority of the populous votes for a candidate then that candidate should win.

Technically we are a republic, so that's why the EC is set up the way it is. Its a system that needs to be better defined but it works better then the popular vote, aka what Cadaver said.

[Coreybush11]

A popular vote won't work until we fix the way ads are done and how news outlets can just lie to us, also I don't have any faith in the education of the American public so I can't trust them to something like that.
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And allow more parties equal access to funding, or just get rid of the government funding the campaigns (Which I would like better)

[BladeTwinSwords]

The Electoral College tends to be more helpful for the states who don't get a ton of presidential coverage. A large portion of political campaign spending goes to states that have a tendency to switch between parties. The other states are pretty much set in stone so it's less ideal to go for those. You can change the popular vote more than you can change the electoral vote.