Should the US Abolish the Electoral College?

2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION SITE

Last updated on: 9/30/2019 9:53:27 AM PST

The Electoral College was established in Article II of the US Constitution by the founding fathers as a compromise between a popular vote and having Congress choose the president. To win the presidency, a candidate must obtain 270 electoral votes. There have been five times in US history when a candidate won the popular vote but did not win the Electoral College and therefore lost the election.

For more information, read the top 3 pros and cons of using the electoral college.

Source: National Archives and Records Administration, "U.S. Electoral College," archives.gov (accessed Sep. 30, 2019)

Pro

Con

Trump

Not Clear or Not Found

Biden

Pro (Yes)

Con (No)

Now Con

Donald Trump
Republican

"The brilliance of the Electoral College is that you must go to many States to win. With the Popular Vote, you go to just the large States - the Cities would end up running the Country. Smaller States & the entire Midwest would end up losing all power - & we can’t let that happen. I used to like the idea of the Popular Vote, but now realize the Electoral College is far better for the U.S.A."

Source: Donald Trump, Twitter.com, Mar. 19, 2019

[Editor's Note: Trump previously expressed a PRO opinion on this question. Read Trump's former position on whether the electoral college should be abolished.]

None Found

Joe Biden
Democrat

No position found as of Sep. 30, 2019.

FORMER CANDIDATES

(Candidates who have withdrawn or who no longer meet our criteria appear below in black and white and in alphabetical order.)

Pro

Booker

Buttigieg

O'Rourke

Sanders

Warren

Con

Yang

Not Clear or Not Found

Gabbard

Harris

Klobuchar

Pro (Yes)

Pro

Cory Booker
Democrat

Audience member: "Do you believe there should be some type of reform to the Electoral College or should it remain as it is?"

Booker: "I believe very simply that in presidential elections the person with the most votes should be the President of the United States. But, I want to tell you, for us to ever get to a point where we can address that issue, we have got to win this next election under the rules that are there now."

Source: Rachel Frazin, "Booker: The Person with the Most Votes Should Be the President," thehill.com, Mar. 27, 2019

Pro

Pete Buttigieg
Democrat

"A National Popular Vote to replace the Electoral College.

It’s simple: the candidate who gets the most votes should win. States don’t vote, people vote, and everyone’s vote should count exactly the same. The Electoral College has to go.

The Electoral College artificially dilutes the power of minority communities and due to projected demographic trends, this problem is likely to get worse over time. We need to abolish the Electoral College and replace it with a National Popular Vote so that every citizen has a say in electing our president. The best route to removing the Electoral College would be a constitutional amendment. Recognizing that this cannot be done overnight, Pete supports the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact to ensure the president is chosen by the American people while we seek constitutional reform."

Source: Pete Buttigieg, "Issues," peteforamerica.com (accessed Sep. 26, 2019)

Pro

Beto O'Rourke
Democrat

"Yes, let's abolish the Electoral College... This is one of those bad compromises we made at day one in this country... If we got rid of the electoral college, we get a little bit closer to one person, one vote in the United States of America... If there were no Electoral College, or we were to reform the Electoral College so each state awarded its electors proportionate to the popular vote, you'd have to have every presidential candidate showing up to every state to listen to, talk with, and learn from everyone."

Source: Fox News, "Beto O'Rourke: Let's Abolish the Electoral College," foxnews.com, Apr. 1, 2019

Pro

Bernie Sanders
Democrat

"I believe that it is hard to defend the current system in which one candidate receives 3 million votes less than his opponent, but still becomes president. Further, presidential elections cannot be fought out in just a dozen 'battleground' states. I believe that we need to reexamine the concept of the electoral college."

Source: Kevin Uhrmacher, Kevin Schaul, and Jeff Stein, "Where 2020 Democrats Stand on Democratic Changes," washingtonpost.com, Sep. 16, 2019

[Editor's Note: On July 19, 2019, Sanders tweeted "Abolish the Electoral College" with a link to an MSNBC article.]

Pro

Elizabeth Warren
Democrat

"Come a general election, presidential candidates don't come to places like Mississippi. They also don't come to places like California and Massachusetts, because we're not the battleground states. Well my view is that every vote matters. And the way we can make that happen is that we can have national voting and that means get rid of the Electoral College and every vote counts."

Source: CNN, "Elizabeth Warren: Get Rid of the Electoral College," cnn.com, Mar. 18, 2019

Con (No)

Con

Andrew Yang
Democrat

"Two of the past five elections have been won by the candidate with fewer votes. Third-party candidates frequently bring important considerations and voices to the political process, but they’re drowned out by the two major parties, and – fair or not – are usually called spoilers by the losing party.

I’m for overturning Citizens United and reforming (though not eliminating) the electoral college, but those would require constitutional amendments."

Source: Andrew Yang, "My Plan to Restore Democracy," yang2020.com (accessed June 5, 2019)

Not Clearly Pro or Con

Tulsi Gabbard
Democrat

"There are reforms that need to take place to make it so that our votes are being cast and counted and represented in the outcome of our elections. I think there are pros and cons to the existing electoral college and to getting rid of it. What I think would be important is for us to have a conversation about how we can best move forward. I think it's unfortunate that too often these calls for changes come about by the side that has lost or suffered as a result of the electoral college so I think it's important for us as a country to have a conversation about what is the best way forward to make sure that this process is fair and representative of the people who are voting."

Source: Paul Steinhauser, twitter.com, Mar. 22, 2019

Not Clearly Pro or Con

Kamala Harris
Democrat

Jimmy Kimmel: "Senator Warren, Elizabeth Warren, had a town hall last night and she said that she thinks we should do away with the Electoral College. Do you agree with that?"

Kamala Harris: "I think that I'm open to the discussion. I mean, there's no question that the popular vote has been diminished in terms of making the final decision about who's the President of the United States and we need to deal with that. So, I'm open to the discussion."

Source: Jimmy Kimmel Live, "Senator Kamala Harris on Running for President, Electoral College, Her Family and Star Wars," youtube.com, Mar. 19, 2109

Not Clearly Pro or Con

Amy Klobuchar
Democrat

[Editor's Note: Klobuchar told the Washington Post that she was "open" to abolishing the Electoral College for a Sep. 20, 2019 article, "Where 2020 Democrats Stand on Democratic Changes," written by Kevin Uhrmacher, Kevin Schaul, and Jeff Stein.]