--- title: Electoral College: Here's How to Move to a Popular Vote description: For the fifth time in history, the U.S. elected a president who did not win the popular vote. canonical: https://time.com/4597227/electoral-college-donald-trump/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-10T04:15:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-06-24T06:56:58.423Z article:section: Politics og:title: Why It's Hard to End the Electoral College og:description: It's not as simple as it sounds. og:url: https://time.com/4597227/electoral-college-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d7b4f982ddb825b/6988b27c524fc00124dfa7dc/gettyimages-628833304.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President-elect Donald Trump speaks at the DeltaPlex Arena, December 9, 2016 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why It's Hard to End the Electoral College twitter:description: It's not as simple as it sounds. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d7b4f982ddb825b/6988b27c524fc00124dfa7dc/gettyimages-628833304.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why It's Hard to End the Electoral College ## Video: This Video Is No Longer Available [Watch (HLS stream): This Video Is No Longer Available](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8) (0:10)  _Published 2026-06-23. For the fifth time in history, the U.S. elected a president who did not win the popular vote._ by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Dec 10, 2016 4:15 AM UTC by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Dec 10, 2016 4:15 AM UTC For the fifth time in history, the U.S. elected a president who did not win the popular vote. That’s led to calls to dismantle the Electoral College, the constitutional system that apportions votes to presidential candidates based on their wins in each state. But opponents have an uphill climb. Here’s a look at how to end the Electoral College—and why it’s not as simple as it sounds. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4597227/electoral-college-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4597227/electoral-college-donald-trump/"},"headline":"Why It's Hard to End the Electoral College","datePublished":"2016-12-10T04:15:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-24T06:56:58.423Z","description":"For the fifth time in history, the U.S. elected a president who did not win the popular vote.","url":"https://time.com/4597227/electoral-college-donald-trump/","keywords":["2016 Election topic","Donald Trump","electoral college"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d7b4f982ddb825b/6988b27c524fc00124dfa7dc/gettyimages-628833304.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d7b4f982ddb825b/6988b27c524fc00124dfa7dc/gettyimages-628833304.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President-elect Donald Trump speaks at the DeltaPlex Arena, December 9, 2016 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.","caption":"President-elect Donald Trump speaks at the DeltaPlex Arena, December 9, 2016 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.","creditText":"Drew Angerer—2016 Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4597227/electoral-college-donald-trump/","name":"Why It's Hard to End the Electoral College"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Video Is No Longer Available","description":"For the fifth time in history, the U.S. elected a president who did not win the popular vote.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fKodeUO6/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-06-23T15:00:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4597227/electoral-college-donald-trump/","duration":"PT10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4597227/electoral-college-donald-trump/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```