Valid argument but hard blue and hard red states are that way because a lot of people VOTE blue or red in those states . As for the electoral college vs popular vote , we can only really recognize it as a problem because enough people VOTED for Hillary to even make it relevant . Had Trump won popular vote , nobody would be complaining about the electoral college because it wouldn ' t even have had the chance to matter . While our votes are really just guidelines for the electoral college , what are they supposed to do if we don ' t tell them who we want them to vote for ? I suppose they could abstainwhich may be illegal , someone factcheck me on that but in the event that they don ' t , how can you complain about who they choose if you never told them who to choose ? I recognize that the electoral college question may require an extreme example , but that ' s the logical conclusion of large bodies of people choosing not to vote .