April 9, 2021 in Columns, Opinion
Since Bill Clinton unseated George H. W. Bush in the 1992 presidential election, the GOP has only won the presidency with a majority of the popular vote once. This was in 2004, when, in the wake of 9/11, George W. Bush (50.7%) had a decisive victory over John Kerry (48.3%).
However, Republicans have won the White House in three elections since 1992. Besides 2004, they won in 2000 — George W. Bush (47.9%) over Al Gore (48.4%) — and 2016 — Donald Trump (46%) over Hillary Clinton (48.1%).
These two wins were only possible because of the Electoral College, which puts more weight on votes from less populous states relative to the weight it puts on votes from more populous ones. For instance, in 2016 the