9.35 Myth That National Popular Vote Is Unpopular

Hans von Spakovsky has stated:

“National Popular Vote Inc., … one of California’s lesser-known advocacy organizations, want[s] to ‘scratch off’ the Electoral College—without getting the consent of the majority of Americans.”[616] [Emphasis added]

The National Popular Vote compact would go into effect when enacted by states possessing a majority of the votes in the Electoral College.

The compact would thus represent a majority of Americans using the very metric established in the Constitution for representing the people in presidential elections, namely the Electoral College.

Public opinion has supported nationwide popular election of the President for over six decades by overwhelming margins. Section 7.1 presents numerous polls conducted over a number of years by many different polling organizations, using a variety of different wordings of questions, and all of them report high levels of support for a national popular vote.

Recent state-level polls show a high level of public support for a national popular vote in battleground states, small states, Southern states, border states, and elsewhere.[617]

• Alaska–70%,
• Arizona–67%,
• Arkansas–80%,
• California–70%,
• Colorado–68%,
• Connecticut–74%,
• Delaware–75%,
• District of Columbia–76%,
• Florida–78%,
• Kentucky–80%,
• Idaho–77%,
• Iowa–75%,
• Maine–77%,
• Massachusetts–73%,
• Michigan–73%,
• Minnesota 75%,
• Mississippi–77%,
• Missouri–70%,
• Montana–72%,
• Nebraska–67%,
• Nevada–72%,
• New Hampshire–69%,
• New Mexico–76%,
• New York–79%,
• North Carolina–74%,
• Ohio–70%,
• Oklahoma–81%,
• Oregon–76%,
• Pennsylvania–78%,
• Rhode Island–74%,
• South Carolina–71%,
• South Dakota–75%,
• Tennessee–83%,
• Utah–70%,
• Vermont–75%,
• Virginia–74%,
• Washington–77%,
• West Virginia–81%,
• Wisconsin–71%, and
• Wyoming–69%.

Footnotes