Excellent idea , and great work on the homebrewery page ! <| sep |> Reading comprehension not even once . Yes , California is part of the country , it ' s the most populous state which is why it has 56 electors which is already more than any other state . The other states combined however , add up to be more than California and that is why Trump won . Half the states have laws binding their electors to their state ' s popular vote and Trump won the popular vote in all the states he won and Clinton as well . States don ' t have the same populations , which is the reason for the electoral college so that a few states like CA can determine national elections even when the majority of states don ' t vote same as them . Popular voting on a large scale like in national elections isn ' t a good idea , it puts the interests of the already wealthy urban centers over that of the rest of the country . The US is not a democracy , it is a republic .