A student is analyzing a hypothetical presidential election involving three states, shown in the table below: | State | Candidate A Popular Vote | Candidate B Popular Vote | Total Electoral Votes | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | State East | 1,200,000 | 800,000 | 10 | | State West | 900,000 | 950,0

A student is analyzing a hypothetical presidential election involving three states, shown … — AP US Government and Politics

A student is analyzing a hypothetical presidential election involving three states, shown in the table below:

State	Candidate A Popular Vote	Candidate B Popular Vote	Total Electoral Votes
State East	$1,200,000$	$800,000$	$10$
State West	$900,000$	$950,000$	$12$
State South	$400,000$	$450,000$	$8$

Assuming all three states allocate their electoral votes using a winner-take-all system, which of the following statements best explains how these results illustrate a major criticism of the Electoral College?

A
The system violates the principle of popular sovereignty by requiring electors to vote according to the national popular vote rather than their state's individual popular vote.
B
The results demonstrate that the Electoral College system is designed to promote a participatory model of democracy by ensuring that the national popular vote winner always wins the presidency.
The winner-take-all allocation can result in a candidate winning the electoral vote without winning the popular vote, because a candidate's large margin of victory in one state cannot compensate for narrow losses in other states.Cevap
D
The results show that candidates who win the popular vote in a majority of states are constitutionally guaranteed to win the presidency, regardless of the size of the states they win.

Cevap

The correct answer is that the winner-take-all allocation can result in a candidate winning the electoral vote without winning the popular vote, because a candidate's large margin of victory in one state cannot compensate for narrow losses in other states.

The correct answer is that the winner-take-all allocation can result in a candidate winning the electoral vote without winning the popular vote. In this scenario, Candidate A wins State East by a large margin (

400,000

votes) but receives only

10

electoral votes. Candidate B wins narrow victories in State West (

50,000

votes) and State South (

50,000

votes), capturing a total of

20

electoral votes. Consequently, Candidate B wins the presidency in the Electoral College despite Candidate A winning the overall popular vote (

2,500,000

2,200,000

) across the three states. This highlights a classic criticism of the Electoral College: it can lead to a divergence between the national popular vote and the electoral vote winner because surplus votes in a safely won state do not help a candidate win other states.

Adım Adım Çözüm

Calculate the total popular vote for Candidate A and Candidate B across all three states.

Candidate A receives

1,200,000 + 900,000 + 400,000 = 2,500,000

popular votes. Candidate B receives

800,000 + 950,000 + 450,000 = 2,200,000

popular votes. Candidate A wins the overall popular vote by

300,000

votes.

This establishes the baseline popular vote winner to compare against the Electoral College outcome.

Determine the allocation of electoral votes for each state using the winner-take-all rules.

Candidate A wins a plurality in State East and receives all

10

electoral votes. Candidate B wins a plurality in State West and State South, receiving

12 + 8 = 20

electoral votes. Candidate B wins the Electoral College with

20

votes to Candidate A's

10

This determines the final winner of the presidential election under the Electoral College rules.

Identify which criticism of the Electoral College is demonstrated by comparing the popular vote and electoral vote outcomes.

Candidate B won the Electoral College despite Candidate A winning the popular vote. This happens because Candidate A's large margin of victory in State East (

400,000

votes) was offset by two narrow losses in State West and State South (totaling

100,000

votes). This demonstrates how the winner-take-all system can result in a conflict between the popular vote and the electoral vote.

This connects the mathematical analysis of the data table to the constitutional criticism of the winner-take-all electoral system.

Anahtar Kavram

The Electoral College winner-take-all mechanic and its capacity to produce a divergence between the national popular vote and the electoral vote winner.

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