How can a candidate win the popular vote and still lose the Electoral College?
A misalignment of the popular and electoral vote generally results from one candidate narrowly winning a number of states with a majority of the electoral votes, while losing badly in other states. Consider the following model of a country with five states, each with 100 voters and one electoral vote: State Candidate A Candidate B A 100 0 B 100 0 C 40 60 D 40 60 E 40 60 Total 240 180 While candidate A receives more votes than candidate B, candidate B wins three of the five states, and therefore, the presidency. To use a real world example, in 1860 Abraham Lincoln secured a majority of the seats in the Electoral College while winning less than 40% of the national vote, and virtually no votes from the South. This was possible because Lincoln was able to win narrow electoral majorities in the northern states, which had a majority of seats in the college. Lincoln’s support in the North was not unanimous, and souther opposition to Lincoln was unanimous, but with the Electoral College in pla
