Some people campaign for abolishing the Electoral College in favor of a straight popular vote. The most common reason I've heard for this is because it will get rid of swing states where most of the campaigning will happen, and get more widely spread attention.
I believe this is false. The top nine states by population - CA, TX, NY, FL, IL, PA, OH, MI & GA - contain approximately 50% of the US population. If you add in the next eight states - NC, NJ, VA, WA, MA, IN, AZ & TN - you're up to about 69% of the total US population. So, 17 states have over two-thirds of the US population. (BTW, TN is last state that individually has at least 2% of the total US population.) The bottom 33 states have 21% of the US population - how much attention are those 33 states going to get?
Without the electoral college, the vast majority of campaigning - and campaign promising! - is going to be in those top 17 states, mostly in the top 9. Abolishing the Electoral College would just re-define the swing states to be those top nine states, permanently.
There's an interest set of maps at http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2012/ - they include a map where the states are sized proportional to population, and proportional to electoral college votes.
I believe this is false. The top nine states by population - CA, TX, NY, FL, IL, PA, OH, MI & GA - contain approximately 50% of the US population. If you add in the next eight states - NC, NJ, VA, WA, MA, IN, AZ & TN - you're up to about 69% of the total US population. So, 17 states have over two-thirds of the US population. (BTW, TN is last state that individually has at least 2% of the total US population.) The bottom 33 states have 21% of the US population - how much attention are those 33 states going to get?
Without the electoral college, the vast majority of campaigning - and campaign promising! - is going to be in those top 17 states, mostly in the top 9. Abolishing the Electoral College would just re-define the swing states to be those top nine states, permanently.
There's an interest set of maps at http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2012/ - they include a map where the states are sized proportional to population, and proportional to electoral college votes.