the popular vote for president begain in 1824.
when did the popular vote for president begin?
1824
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elections where the winning candidate loses the national popular vote typically result when the winner builds the requisite configuration of states (and thus captures their electoral votes) by small margins, but the losing candidate secures large voter margins in the remaining states. in this case, the very large margins secured by the losing candidate in the other states would aggregate to a plurality of the ballots cast nationally. however, commentators question the legitimacy of this national popular vote. they point out that the national popular vote observed under the electoral college system does not reflect the popular vote observed under a national popular vote system, as each electoral institution produces different incentives for, and strategy choices by, presidential campaigns. because the national popular vote is irrelevant under the electoral college system, it is generally presumed that candidates base their campaign strategies around the existence of the electoral college; any close race has candidates campaigning to maximize electoral votes by focusing their get-out-the-vote efforts in crucially needed swing states and not attempting to maximize national popular vote totals by using finite campaign resources to run up margins or close up gaps in states considered "safe" for themselves or their opponents, respectively. conversely, the institutional structure of a national popular vote system would encourage candidates to pursue voter turnout wherever votes could be found, even in "safe" states they are already expected to win, and in "safe" states they have no hope of winning.
united states electoral college