[dreaminvm]

I really don't see the value in reiterating this statistic over and over again.

The POTUS is decided by the electoral vote. If the process was by the popular vote, the candidates would have campaigned very differently and the voter turnout could be much higher.

[sundaeofshock]

It is valuable becuase it shows that the vast majority wanted someone other then Trump as president. It means he does not have a popular mandate to do the things he wants to do.

[dreaminvm]

The only point I am arguing here is that the popular vote for any election is meaningless (except an electoral tie) when the POTUS is decided by the electoral colleges.

If the popular vote decided the POTUS, then Trump voters in traditionally Democratic states (think Pacific NorthWest) might have turned out in droves and vice-versa for Hilary.

[altern8tif]

I beg to differ. While the presidency is determined by the electoral college, the popular vote is not meaningless.

A hypothetical president who won only 30% of the popular vote, while winning the electoral college, will be enacting policies that 70% of the electorate explicitly voted against.

Even with these numbers, a more moderate (and reasonable) president might still be able to mend the fences put up during the campaign trail. But with such a polarising president, the dissatisfaction amongst the populace will be even more pronounced. This is exactly what we're seeing now.

[Lagged2Death]

...the popular vote for any election is meaningless...

Yet the administration itself keeps bringing it up. Making up stories to explain it away. As if it mattered quite a lot.

[prodigal_erik]

2% of the popular vote is not a vast majority.

(EDIT: I said "and we aren't even certain about that number because states generally don't keep counting after the state outcome is certain" but I was mistaken).

[sundaeofshock]

Trump won 46.1% of the popular vote, which means 53.9% of the electorate wanted someone else as president. 8 points is a pretty big difference.

Can you provide evidence that states stop counting votes after it looks there will be a winner in a specific race? Last time i checked, states take several weeks to provide official results because counting all the votes takes a while.

[prodigal_erik]

Snopes says I'm wrong and even absentee votes are eventually counted, sorry for the misinfo: http://www.snopes.com/2016/11/13/who-won-the-popular-vote/

We have a first-past-the-post system in which only the top two candidates are viable, so 5.7% of the voters didn't prioritize keeping Trump out of office. If we set the bar at "I think this is the best qualified person on Earth for this office" every elected official has only had a small minority. If we set the bar at "of these two, this one is better" Hillary only won by 2% along with a lot of "don't care".

[sundaeofshock]

That's a lot of handwaving and speculation about what was going on in the voters' minds. I'm going to Occam's Razor this and say that ~54% of voters voted for Not Donald Trump.