Quote:
The electoral college forces the winner to have a somewhat broader appeal across these demographics.
That might have been true before modern communications and polling allowed candidates to go after "swing states." The result is that not only are small states basically ignored, but larger non-competitive states like New York, California, and Texas get ignored as well. Since we'll never get rid of polling, the only way to ensure that candidates appeal to "a wide distribution" of Americans is to use a straight popular vote, so that my Dad's Bush vote in New York last week counts as much as my Kerry vote in Pennsylvania today (not that I'm at all upset by my advantage in this case, of course.)
This would, by extension, help voters in the small states, because their vote would count as much as mine. With the electoral college, *especially* with winner-take-all, those votes mean nothing.
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