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For immediate release.
November 17, 2000
Contact: Jesse Rutledge, N.C. Center for Voter Education,
(919) 839-1200

Center for Voter Education Poll: N.C. Divided On Value of Electoral College

RALEIGH - A post-election poll conducted for the North Carolina Center for Voter Education shows that voters across North Carolina have a divided view on whether the electoral college system should continue to be used to choose the President of the United States.

Among those surveyed, 45 percent favored scrapping the electoral college, 33 percent favored continuing to use it, and 22 percent were undecided or didn‘t offer an opinion.

The poll was conducted in the two days after the election, as uncertainty mounted as to the outcome of the November 7th presidential election. All eyes remain on Florida, whose 25 electoral college votes will likely decide who has won the presidency, Democrat Al Gore or Republican George W. Bush. The uncertainty in Florida, and the closeness of the vote in numerous other states, has renewed the idea of reforming or abolishing the electoral college.

"We were surprised that only 45 percent favored changing the system," said Jesse Rutledge, a spokesman for the N.C. Center for Voter Education. "The conventional wisdom is that an overwhelming majority of people would prefer the president to be elected by popular vote. These results go against the conventional wisdom."

Rutledge noted that historically, polls done nationally have shown support up to 77 percent for switching to a system where the winner is chosen by national popular vote.

Rutledge said that the 33 percent who favor retaining the electoral college probably do so for a couple of reasons. First, many oppose changing the constitution just because of one close presidential election. Second, some feel that the electoral college system helps to level the playing field between huge states like California and New York, which are population-heavy, and medium-size states like North Carolina.

"People in North Carolina saw how close this election was, they saw that what happened in small states like New Mexico, Iowa and Oregon was critical to the outcome. They don‘t necessarily want to embrace a new system that might give all the influence to the largest states," Rutledge continued.

The strong support for Republican George W. Bush in North Carolina could also factor in to the luke-warm reception for election by popular vote, given that Bush is currently trailing in the national popular vote tally but may well end up winning the electoral college battle.

The survey asked: "Do you think we should keep using the Electoral College system to choose the President of the United States?" This poll was a scientific survey of public opinion conducted on the dates of November 8-9, 2000, by Strategic Analysis & Messaging.

The poll was based upon actual telephone interviews by professionally trained operators of 591 voters in North Carolina. The sample population was scientifically selected to meet rigid criteria of random selection and geographical allocation. Survey results for a sample of 591 provide a sampling error factor of less than 4.5 percent at the .95 percent confidence level.

The N.C. Center for Voter Education is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization based in Raleigh dedicated to improving the quality and responsiveness of North Carolina‘s election system. Former U.S. Senator Robert Morgan serves as chairman of the board.

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