A Democratic commentator in the NYT stated it the other day:

"The goal in a presidential election is to win the Electoral contest - in effect 50 separate races'

"If it were about winning the overall popular vote, Trump probably would have run a different campaign. If Clinton had paid attention to it, she SHOULD have run a different campaign"

Which is why it always boils down to around 8-15 "swing states"

Trump was in Wisconsin two days before the election, telling the crowd "Hillary is in NYC with Jay-Z and Beyonce and I am up here all alone in front of you". Says a lot.

As Canadians know, there is little point in a Conservative Candidate running up the vote in an Alberta Riding, or a Liberal (BBQ?) candidate running up the score in a Quebec riding, if you do not get enough seats in a variety of places throughout the country.

You can pick up four seats in PEI for 40-50,000 votes, or pick up one in the GTA for 120,000. This needs to be corrected, but it demonstrates the point.