[yaegers]

>Why have a popular vote if the majority winner doesn't determine the outcome?

Except you dont have one. The popular vote in US elections is nothing but a meaningless statistic. Nobody in their right mind would compaign pretending its all about the popular vote when it really is about EC votes.

Plus, since it is about EC votes, republicans in California would never even bother to go vote cause it would never change the outcome that California will be blue while democrats do likewise in Texas.

If you want to take the popular vote into account, you need to make the election alla bout the popular vote before election season starts. You can't keep the existing system and then critize the result when it doesn't fit your wanted outcome.