"Some Democrats have argued that the Electoral College is undemocratic because it gives more weight to less populated states. That is how Clinton, who got more than 2.8 million more votes nationwide, lost the election to Trump." Hillary Clinton won California by more than 4.2 million votes. If the U.S. presidential election was based strictly on the popular vote, most of the campaigning would be restricted to California, with the rest of the country an afterthought. That isn't very democratic either. Despite its weaknesses and archaic nature, the Electoral College does mean that the winning candidate has to appeal to a broad spectrum of Americans in various parts of the country, not just those in one state.