A woman enters a voting booth to cast her vote at Vare Edwin Middle School on Nov. 8, 2016 in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The debate over the Electoral College has careened through the 2020 presidential race. | Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images POLITICO/MORNING CONSULT POLL Poll: Voters prefer popular vote over Electoral College

More voters prefer to elect the president by national, popular vote over the existing Electoral College system, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll.

Half of voters, 50 percent, say the national popular vote should be used for presidential elections, the poll shows — more than the 34 percent who think presidential elections should be based on the Electoral College. Sixteen percent of voters have no opinion.


The debate over whether the Electoral College is a sound way to protect the power of states or a historical vestige of slavery-era America has careened through the 2020 presidential race, as Democratic candidates have almost unanimously called for its end in recent weeks. The Democratic nominee has won the most votes in six of the last seven presidential elections — but twice, in 2000 and 2016, lost the Electoral College count.

As a result, the poll finds, the issue falls somewhat along partisan lines. Democratic voters strongly support the popular vote, 72 percent to 16 percent. Republicans’ preference for the Electoral College is not as overwhelming, but roughly two GOP voters prefer the Electoral College, 57 percent, for every one preferring the popular vote, 30 percent.

Independent voters, meanwhile, prefer the popular vote over the Electoral College, 46 percent to 29 percent.

There are two ways of replacing or circumventing the Electoral College, and pluralities of voters support each of them, the poll shows. Asked about the National Popular Vote Compact — in which states bind their electors to the winner of the national popular vote, and not the election results in their states — 43 percent support states’ awarding their electoral votes to the national victor. Just a third, 33 percent, would prefer to keep the Electoral College, and 23 percent have no opinion.

A more permanent change — amending the Constitution again when it comes to presidential elections — also garners public support. Nearly half, 48 percent, would support a constitutional amendment to eliminate the Electoral College, while only 36 percent would keep the Electoral College enshrined in the Constitution. Seventeen percent of voters have no opinion.

The POLITICO/Morning Consult poll was conducted March 22-24, surveying 1,994 registered voters. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2 percentage points. (The poll was fielded before a separate POLITICO/Morning Consult poll , which surveyed voters about Attorney General William Barr’s summary of the special counsel report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.)

Morning Consult is a nonpartisan media and technology company that provides data-driven research and insights on politics, policy and business strategy.

More details on the poll and its methodology can be found in these two documents — Toplines: https://politi.co/2V1wf3m | Crosstabs: https://politi.co/2FBkP0S