Electoral Vote vs Popular Vote - Difference and Comparison | Diffen

The Electoral College as I understand it was designed to give a more equal vote to all. The large population centers have unique problems, issues and in many cases mindsets that do not apply to more rural environments. To allow the pure majority to rule would be a catastrophe.

Great, and tough question. I came down on electoral college because of an argument made during the constitutional convention and recorded in the Federalist Papers. Large democracies had never worked before, because popular votes drive the mean (vs median or mode) opinion on any subject, and the "tyranny of the majority" was a major concern. So a democratic republic, instead of an absolute democracy was born. Small states with small populations could still have their voices heard. I think the electoral college parallels the senate representation so smaller states still get a voice. Today, I think what the coastal elites call the "flyover states" would suffer under a popular vote system, and the group-think that occurs in our uber-educated coastal cities might drive a tyranny of the new majority.

Both can work in my opinion, but only one is Constitutional.