As both candidates continue to act more like children, the Presidential election begins to more like a popularity contest, but don’t worry, the Popular Vote in 2016 won’t determine who will become the next President of the United States. Name calling and attack ads between the Clinton and Trump campaigns are meant to sway the popular vote in 2016, but they both know that it’s not the “voice of the people” who have the power to help them win the Presidential election. Despite this, the candidates and most voters will remain fixated on the 2016 Popular Vote results when they should be paying attention to the members of the electoral college.
The popular vote in 2016 could still go either way – as Donald Trump vs Hillary Clinton polling numbers show that the two candidates are still very close going into the election. Some political experts would even argue that Trump is likely to see a surge of voters on election day. Republicans are stereotypically older & live in more rural locations – making it difficult for them to participate in Presidential polling prior to the election. This difference could give Donald Trump an advantage in the popular vote in 2016. None of this will matter if the electoral vote doesn’t reflect the popular vote – and it doesn’t have to.
Career politicians, also known as “the political establishment” have the final say in which candidate will win the 2016 election – and many of these people have sworn to vote against Donald Trump at any cost. This means even if Donald Trump wins the 2016 popular vote in some areas, the electoral representative from that region could cast their ballot for Hillary Clinton instead.
In case you don’t remember from your presidential election lesson plans in school, the electoral college is able to act independently from the general election, and does not have to vote the same way as the popular vote. While the individuals in the electoral college are supposed to represent the people of their state, they do have the right to vote however they deem most appropriate. In most cases the electoral college agrees with the popular vote, but as recently as 2004 we saw discrepancies between the two when Florida went against the people’s choice.
We could see the same type of occurrence this year too. The 2016 popular vote results could favor either Trump or Clinton, but the electoral college may step in to make sure that “The Donald” doesn’t become the next President – and that we put a career politician in the most powerful position in the country. Potential backlash from Republican voters could be overwhelming. Getting too serious? Let’s have some fun instead…
As you’ve gathered, this site is all about people being able to vote for the President online. You can participate in election voting for 2016 in our mock poll for free! Anyone can vote online in this election poll, and show the world who they think should be the next President of the United States. Essentially, it’s like the internet popular vote for 2016, with millions of votes expected by election day! Vote now!