Hillary Clinton’s margin in the popular vote against President-elect Donald Trump has surpassed 2 million, furthering the record for a candidate who lost in the Electoral College. Thanks to votes still being counted in California and other western areas, Clinton’s vote advantage hit the 2 million mark on Wednesday morning, according to Dave Wasserman of the Cook Political Report. As of mid-day Wednesday, Wasserman’s spread sheet had Clinton at 64,225,863 votes to Trump’s 62,210,612. Much of that lead was generated by California, where Clinton had 3.7 million more votes than Trump in the last totals reported Tuesday evening. The Democratic vote was not distributed well enough across the country, however; Trump carried most of the states and prevailed in the Electoral College.
In the wake of this latest split decision — the same thing happened in 2000, when Al Gore won the popular vote but lost to George W. Bush on electoral votes — some Democrats are calling for an end to the Electoral College. Their chances aren’t good; the Constitution authorizes the Electoral College, and smaller states — especially swing states that see a lot of presidential candidates — would likely block its abolition. Trump, who was once a critic of the Electoral College, now says a popular vote-only system would force candidates to campaign only in bigger states like California, Texas, Florida, and New York.
“I think the popular vote would have been easier in a true sense because you’d go to a few places,” Trump told The New York Times. “I think that’s the genius of the Electoral College. I was never a fan of the Electoral College until now.”
