President Trump said Friday he thinks "winning the popular vote is easier" but said he focused on winning key electoral college states during the 2016 election.

Trump said he decided “very intelligently to campaign in the states that you have to win for the Electoral College victory that you need.”

“I’ve never really been in favor of it [the Electoral College], but now I appreciate it,” Trump said at a rally in Alabama for Sen. Luther Strange Luther Johnson StrangeSessions hits back at Trump days ahead of Alabama Senate runoff The biggest political upsets of the decade State 'certificate of need' laws need to go MORE (R) ahead of Tuesday's Senate GOP primary runoff.

“To me, winning the popular vote is easier, because you go to New York, you go to California, you go to Texas.”

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“The beauty with the electoral college is … I was going to all over, I was going to smaller states. It brings the whole country into play,” Trump continued. “It brings certain states into play that would never really be thought of. But I focused heavily on Pennsylvania and North Carolina.”

Trump also said he’d rather have the popular vote count instead of the electoral college.

“I would rather have the popular vote count because for me, it would be easier,” Trump said.

Trump lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonBiden leads Trump by 36 points nationally among Latinos: poll Democratic super PAC to hit Trump in battleground states over coronavirus deaths Battle lines drawn on precedent in Supreme Court fight MORE by nearly 3 million votes in the 2016 election.

The president was stumping for Strange, who was endorsed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellOcasio-Cortez to voters: Tell McConnell 'he is playing with fire' with Ginsburg's seat McConnell locks down key GOP votes in Supreme Court fight Video shows NYC subway station renamed after Ruth Bader Ginsburg MORE (R-Ky.) and is facing off against ex-Alabama Supreme Court justice Roy Moore, who has the support of several former White House aides, including former strategist Steve Bannon.