Most Americans support using the popular vote to decide U.S. presidents, data shows

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https://www.npr.org/2022/08/10/1116688726/most-americans-support-using-the-popu…
Elections, Popular Vote, Electoral College, Electoral System
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1
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News Item Format
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STEPHAN SAVOIA/AP

Most Americans support using the popular vote and not the electoral college vote to select a president, according to data from the Pew Research Center.

About 63% of Americans support using the popular vote, compared to 35% who would rather keep the electoral college system.

Approval for the popular vote is up from January 2021, when 55% of Americans said they back the change; 43% supported keeping the electoral college at that time.

Opinions on the systems varied sharply according to political party affiliation. 80% of Democrats approve of moving to a popular vote system, while 42% of Republicans support the move. Though, many more Republicans support using the popular vote system now than after the 2016 election, when support was at 27%.

There is also an age divide: 7 out of 10 Americans from ages 18 to 29 support using the popular vote, compared to 56% in Americans over 65 years old.