They ' d simply spend all their time at top population centers rather than the entire country . They already do that , except the only population centers that matter are the ones in swing states . The electoral college actually hurts rural voters . Both parties take 3540 states for granted . California will always vote blue , so who cares what the rural people in California think ? West Virginia will always go red , so who cares what they think either ? If we switched to popular vote , the politicians would have to actually fight for these votes . Right now a Republican getting a 10 % increased turnout across the midwest and southeast is totally irrelevant . He ' d win all those electoral votes anyway . A Democrat losing 5 % of their base on the Pacific Coast would also be irrelevant . Who cares about margins , gotta focus winning the swing states ! With a popular vote these could change the outcome of the entire election . A politician wouldn ' t be able to just ignore Wyoming , Vermont , or rural Californians . absolutely zero reason to care for the needs of rural AmericaThe popular vote is usually very close , so rural America is still clearly very important . Moreover , to play Devil ' s advocate . Fine . There are dozens of minority groups who vote differently than the majority and we don ' t make special exceptions for them . Shit , you could easily make the same exact case for an electoral college that gives special votes to blacks . Without the electoral college , ~~ large population centers ~~ whites would be the more equal ones , as politicians would have absolutely zero reason to care for the needs of ~~ rural America ~~ blacks . They ' d simply spend all their time ~~ at top population centers ~~ pandering to whites rather than the entire country .