Many adults in the United States are questioning the way their head of state us elected, according to a poll by Rasmussen Reports. 54 per cent of respondents think the U.S. should get rid of the Electoral College so that the winner of the popular vote becomes president.

In the United States, the president and vice-president are elected in a single ticket to a four-year term by an Electoral College, whose members represent each state of the union with a previously determined number of electoral votes, in accordance with the results of the popular vote in each state.

Florida’s 25 electoral votes decided the 2000 presidential election, after weeks of recounts and court injunctions concluded in a 537-vote victory for Republican George W. Bush over Democrat Al Gore. In the U.S. presidential elections held in 1824, 1876, 1888 and 2000, the candidate who received a plurality of the popular vote did not garner a majority in the Electoral College.

In American elections, candidates require 270 votes in the Electoral College to win the White House. In November 2004, Bush earned a second term after securing 286 electoral votes from 31 states. Democratic nominee John Kerry received 252 electoral votes from 19 states and the District of Columbia.

On Aug. 25, Democratic California senator Dianne Feinstein called for the abolition of the Electoral College, saying, “The current system enables a handful of states to become battleground states, and disenfranchises tens of millions of American voters in the most important election in the nation. By amending the Constitution to abolish the Electoral College, and replacing it with a system in which the winner is the candidate with the most votes nationwide, we will ensure that the method of electing the president and vice-president is fair and uniform.”

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