MARINE LE PEN’S second-place finish behind Emmanuel Macron has been hailed as a sign that the global wave of populist nationalism which Donald Trump rode to victory is receding. But if France used America’s system for electing presidents, Ms Le Pen might have won. In America’s electoral college, every state gets one vote for each of its senators and members of the House of Representatives. Imagine that France’s 18 regions were treated as states. Each would have two senators, and they would divide 157 House members according to population (with each region guaranteed at least one). Like Hillary Clinton, the cosmopolitan Mr Macron won the most-populous urban regions, such as the one around Paris. But like Mr Trump, Ms Le Pen won more of the rural regions, which an electoral college would favour. Mr Macron and Ms Le Pen would have ended up with 90 electoral votes each. Under the American system, if no candidate gets a majority, the House of Representatives picks the president, with each state getting one vote. Ms Le Pen won eight regions to Mr Macron’s six, and came higher in three of the other four, so she could well have triumphed. The difference between a populist tide and a centrist resurgence may come down to the electoral system.