How fair is US' Presidential Elections ?

[AlphaMonster 1,806]

PS: Don't hesitate to message me if I've done any mistakes with facts; I am not american so my knowledge is limited to the small research I've done on the topic. 

US is not a pure democracy but a representative republic which is also a form of democracy. This has heavy effects on presidential elections. 

ELECTORAL COLLEGE 
American citizens vote to choose electors of their state. These electors are the ones who actually choose the president. Except Maine and Nebraska, states award electoral votes by popular vote aka winner takes all. California has near 40 million population and 55 electors. In 2012, Romney got 37% of votes in California. We can say that he represented nearly 15 million Californians but these 15 million was not represented at all because democrats got 55 of electors because of winner takes it all system. In the same vein, Obama received 41% of votes in Texas but got no electors. To put it in more simple terms, an american who wants to vote for X party in state that is dominated by Y party has no effect or whatsoever on presidential elections. 
Moreover, number of electors are not evenly distributed. California has 1 elector per 720k population while Wyoming has 1 elector per 200k population (3 electors and nearly 600k people). Therefore votes from small states are more valuable. A vote from California is worth three times less than a vote from Wyoming. 
In addition, in many states electors are not obliged to vote for the party that won the popular vote of the state. Electors have an oligarchy here. 

What do you think about electoral college system ? Should president be elected by nation wise popular vote ? Or is it better this way since USA is actually a Union of states ? 

 

 

[President Biden 5,898]

It is unfair. We need popular vote 

[President Trump 3,508]

It's as fair as its gonna get. We don't need a popular vote. Have you seen some of these people out there these days? They don't need to be voting. 

[AlphaMonster 1,806]

2 hours ago, Cheap Wig said:

It's as fair as its gonna get. We don't need a popular vote. Have you seen some of these people out there these days? They don't need to be voting. 

I think this was one of the main reasons the system was designed this way, to avoid tyranny of majority that can be highly incapable... Other reason being lack of rapid communication of the time so choosing people to choose president for population was lot practical. I also think electoral system is good, it would lot better if electors of states were chosen according to vote received in the state instead of winner takes it all system.

[President Trump 3,508]

17 minutes ago, AlphaMonster said:

I think this was one of the main reasons the system was designed this way, to avoid tyranny of majority that can be highly incapable... Other reason being lack of rapid communication of the time so choosing people to choose president for population was lot practical. I also think electoral system is good, it would lot better if electors of states were chosen according to vote received in the state instead of winner takes it all system.

Yes and i didn't know Obama had received such a percentage from Texas. That's great. Although the state, where I live, is purely republican with hardly any wiggle room. It'd be nice if politics was a fair representation of everybody. 

Most people I know don't know anything about the political side of politics - only the sensational personal life stories. So many people failed government in high school, paid no attention in economics, history, etc. and they are the same people that purport to know so much about politics, while voting strictly on mundane, irrelevant issues, or the party their family traditionally votes for. The majority clearly does not know what they're doing. There's a reason that politics focuses so much on slander, truly. That's the only part of it that everyone can understand.

I also work with individuals that have IQs of less than 40, and they cannot function in a normal environment, but are able to vote, and some do. Scary 

[ALGAYDO 35,083]

As fair as what the minimum wage is right now. So, not very. 

But it could be A LOT worse, you know? 

I mean, we're not as bad as we used to be like 200 years ago, but we still have a long was to go. So much corruption and unfair loopholes that politicians can go though...

[AlphaMonster 1,806]

39 minutes ago, Cheap Wig said:

Yes and i didn't know Obama had received such a percentage from Texas. That's great. Although the state, where I live, is purely republican with hardly any wiggle room. It'd be nice if politics was a fair representation of everybody. 

Most people I know don't know anything about the political side of politics - only the sensational personal life stories. So many people failed government in high school, paid no attention in economics, history, etc. and they are the same people that purport to know so much about politics, while voting strictly on mundane, irrelevant issues, or the party their family traditionally votes for. The majority clearly does not know what they're doing. There's a reason that politics focuses so much on slander, truly. That's the only part of it that everyone can understand.

I also work with individuals that have IQs of less than 40, and they cannot function in a normal environment, but are able to vote, and some do. Scary 

I can relate to you on every level. 

People makes the dictatorship seems like evil but they confuse dictatorships with tyranny which is what most dictatorships are but democracy can easily become a tyranny when voters are not qualified enough. If Bernie Sanders were to become dictator, simply undemocratic leader of Us, I do not think it would be bad. I think I can relate to it better because I am turkish. Founding father of Turkey ruled the country as a dictator, he tried to engineer society in a way they would be qualified enough to vote in a democratic system. Ataturk, being a dictator, granted equal rights to women, secularized the state and the education, granted religious freedom and equal rights to different religious minorities. On the other hand, democracies can create very reactionary figures like Trump. (Dictatorships can create reactionary figures easier of course)

I think biggest problem US has is income gap. Top tier of US is the top tier of the world but on the other hand, unfortunately, there are people who are very uneducated as result of this income gap. Income gap reflects itself on the nation as education gap.

I think that democracy should have a limit. I personally believe it would be so much better if at least being a high school grad was a requirement to vote even though it probably would not be entirely enough. 

[Born To Slay 10,996]

It should be the popular vote imo

id also be okay if it were done like the democrats so there primary where all delegates are awarded proportionally 

[DeleteMyAccount 11,881]

From a Republican viewpoint, the electoral map is bad. I mean, Hillary has already won the election... The chances of her not winning are slim. She'd literally have to strangle a disabled person to lose. 

This is also why we have local and state governments. The president can't help/hurt everyone.

[AlphaMonster 1,806]

8 minutes ago, ZacharyMark said:

From a Republican viewpoint, the electoral map is bad. I mean, Hillary has already won the election... The chances of her not winning are slim. She'd literally have to strangle a disabled person to lose. 

This is also why we have local and state governments. The president can't help/hurt everyone.

I am not very knowledgable about local and state governments. But when it comes to congress elections, gerrymandering is a problem to deal with.