The poll found that 58 percent of respondents support switching to a popular vote system, while 39 percent favor retaining the Electoral College. These numbers have remained consistent since Gallup first posed the question in 2000. The survey data reflects a partisan divide that has persisted since the contested 2000 election, when George W. Bush won the presidency over Al Gore following a U.S. Supreme Court decision. Since then, Democrats have been significantly more likely than Republicans or independents to support amending the Constitution to declare the winner of the presidential election by popular vote. Currently, around 82 percent of Democrats favor eliminating the Electoral College. By contrast, after the 2016 election, just 17 percent of Republicans supported a popular vote system, with 81 percent preferring the Electoral College. However, Republican support for the popular vote has since risen to 32 percent. “Partisans’ preferences are generally aligned with whichever format would tend to benefit their party in presidential elections,” Gallup notes. “The Democratic Party has won the popular vote in all but one election since 1992 (the 2004 election). The two elections in which the Electoral College vote winner did not win the popular vote saw Republicans George W. Bush in 2000 and Trump in 2016 become president.” Gallup also pointed out that support for eliminating the Electoral College is lower today than before 2000, largely due to deepening political divisions. "The recognition that each approach — popular vote or Electoral College — favors a different party complicates efforts to reach a national consensus on the matter," the report stated. The Electoral College was established by Article II of the Constitution as a compromise between electing the president through a vote in Congress or by popular vote alone. The system was designed to balance the will of the majority against the risk of "tyranny of the majority," where a narrow majority might overrule minority interests. It also sought to prevent states with larger populations from having disproportionate influence in presidential elections.More than half of Americans say they would prefer to elect U.S. presidents through a popular vote rather than the Electoral College, according to new survey data from Gallup.
