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Popular Versus Electoral Vote: A Breakdown

Headshot of Bill Marshall, Kenan Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina
Courtesy Bill Marshall

This past Tuesday, Hillary Clinton won 49 percent of the popular vote while Donald Trump won only 48 percent. Ultimately, Trump took home the presidency because voters don't elect the president, electors do. 

Bill Marshall, a UNC law professor, and former Deputy White House Counsel during the Clinton administration, breaks down how the Electoral College system works, and why it has led to differences between popular and electoral votes in two recent elections.
 

Host Frank Stasio talks with Marshall and hears his case for why the system, despite its flaws, is still the right fit for the U.S.

Laura Pellicer is a digital reporter with WUNC’s small but intrepid digital news team.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
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