A majority of voters say they favor eliminating the Electoral College to decide who wins the presidency, according to a Rasmussen Reports survey conducted before and after this year's election.
Asked if they "favor or oppose eliminating the Electoral College so that whoever wins a majority of the popular vote wins the election," 55% say they favor elimination. That includes 35% who say they strongly favor it; 36% say they are opposed to getting rid of the electoral system, including 25% who strongly oppose.
In a party breakdown, 74% of Democrats, 43% of Republicans, and 48% of unaffiliated voters say they at least are somewhat in favor elimination.
In an age group breakdown, 62% of voters aged 18-39 say they are at least somewhat in favor of elimination, as did 54% of voters aged 40-64 and 48% of voters 65 and older.
President-elect Donald Trump won the Electoral College and the popular vote to defeat Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election. Trump became the first Republican in 20 years to capture the popular vote.
Calls for the abolishment of the Electoral College, especially among Democrats, have risen after two recent elections in which the Republican candidate lost the popular vote but won the presidency. In 2000, George W. Bush defeated Al Gore, and in 2016, Trump defeated Hillary Clinton.
The latest Rasmussen Reports survey was conducted Nov. 4-6 – thus including two nights before the election outcome was known – among 1,750 likely voters. It has a plus/minus 2 percentage-point margin of error with a 95% level of confidence.
The Electoral College — 538 electors, with a majority of 270 needed to win the presidency — was included in the U.S. Constitution as a form of compromise between direct election by popular vote and the Congress choosing the president.
The Founding Fathers saw the Electoral College as a way to ensure that the rights of voters in smaller states weren't overwhelmed by those in larger states.
Each state's electoral votes are determined by their congressional representatives: one for each member in the House plus two for its senators.
The Rasmussen survey also asked voters whether it's "too easy or too hard to vote in the United States today? Or is the level of difficulty about right?"
A share of 31% of voters say it's too easy to vote, while 12% say it's too hard to vote and 53% say the level of difficulty is about right.
Republicans (41%) are more likely than Democrats (23%) or unaffiliated voters (31%) to say it's too easy to vote.