John AdoyiVice Presidential candidate of the Democratic Party in the upcoming United States presidential election, Governor Tim Walz, has called for the removal of the Electoral College. He said: “I think all of us know the Electoral College needs to go.”
Walz stated this during a gathering of supporters on Tuesday, as he campaigns alongside Vice President Kamala Harris for the 2024 United States presidential election. Walz’s remarks are not an official campaign position, a Walz-Harris campaign official told CNN.
Join our WhatsApp Channel“Governor Walz believes that every vote matters in the Electoral College and he is honored to be traveling the country and battleground states working to earn support for the Harris-Walz ticket,” the spokesperson stated. They emphasized that Walz’s comments were aimed at addressing the importance of securing 270 electoral votes while acknowledging the challenges posed by the current electoral system.
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The Electoral College, established in the US 1787 Constitution, was created as a compromise between electing the president by a vote in Congress and by popular vote. Each state is allocated some electors based on its representation in Congress, with a total of 538 electors. To win the presidency, a candidate must receive a majority of these votes—270. However, the system has faced significant criticism over the years, particularly because it allows for the possibility of a candidate winning the presidency without winning the popular vote.
This criticism has intensified recently. According to a Pew Research Center poll released last month, a significant majority of Americans—63%—favor abolishing the Electoral College. Historically, five U.S. presidential elections, including the contentious elections of 2000 and 2016, have resulted in candidates winning the presidency despite losing the popular vote.
Several US politicians have also called for the abolishing of he electoral college. Vice President Kamala Harris has previously expressed openness to the idea of eliminating the Electoral College. During a 2019 appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” she stated, “There’s no question that the popular vote has been diminished in terms of making the final decision about who’s the president of the United States, and we need to deal with that, so I’m open to the discussion.”
Conversely, former President Donald Trump has had a fluctuating stance on the Electoral College. In 2012, he criticized the system, labeling it “a disaster for a democracy.” However, after winning the 2016 election through the Electoral College, despite being defeated by Hillary Clinton in the popular vote, he changed his position, arguing that a popular vote would be “much easier to win,” reflecting a shift in perspective among some politicians based on electoral outcomes.
