O-SenseMost Idahoans do not want to do away with the Electoral College – the unique U.S. constitutional manner in which American presidents are selected, a new Idaho Politics Weekly poll shows.
Of course, GOP President Donald Trump won the Electoral College by around 80,000 votes coming in three key states, but he lost the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton by nearly 3 million votes.
IPW pollster Dan Jones & Associates found that 52 percent of Idahoans “definitely” or “probably” want to keep the College; 44 percent want to do away with it and elect our presidents based on popular vote, and 4 percent don’t know.
The College has been much debated recently, for two out of the last three presidents won their first terms by winning the College, but losing the popular vote – something that previously was rare in U.S. history.
Idaho women don’t much care for Trump, even though he easily won the state last November.
Jones finds that dislike shows up in the Electoral College question, as well as others in the latest survey:
- 48 percent of women want to do away with the College and elect presidents by popular
vote only.
- Only 38 percent of men want the change.
- 47 percent of women want to keep the College.
- While 60 percent of men do.
Idaho Republicans have seen their guy elected via the College twice in the last 16 years. And so it makes sense they want to keep that system:
- Republicans favor keeping the College, 69-28 percent.
- Democrats want it junked, and go only to popular vote, 76-22 percent.
- Political independents (those who belong to no party) are split, 50 percent say keep
the College, 47 percent say junk it.
- And those who belong to some other political party (mostly conservative alternatives in Idaho), also want to keep the College, 56-37 percent.
It would take a constitutional amendment to do away with the college directly – and that is unlikely in the current political make-up of the Congress.
However, there is a movement in various state legislatures to pass election laws requiring each state’s Electoral College votes go to whoever wins the national popular vote – and not have their College votes go to whoever wins that individual state, as is now the case.
That way the College would remain, but the nation would elect the president by popular vote.
Jones polled 607 adults from Nov. 18-29. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.98 percent.
