Hillary Clinton Criticizes the Electoral System
Still feeling the sting of her defeat to Donald Trump in the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton has been vocal about her frustrations with the electoral system, labeling it “an abomination.”
A recent Netflix documentary, The American Experiment, explores how presidents have been elected in the U.S. from the beginning. Clinton appears to be expressing her dissatisfaction through this lens.
The former first lady, who served as Secretary of State under President Obama, remains upset about the 2016 election outcome, believing the 239-year-old constitutional system is inequitable. Trump triumphed over Clinton in key states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, securing victory by just 80,000 votes, which tilted the Electoral College in his favor.
Documentary director Brian Knappenberger noted how Clinton rarely discusses her feelings about that night, and he expressed gratitude that she shared her views in this series. He pointed out her unique position as one of only a few in U.S. history to win the popular vote but lose the presidency. In fact, Clinton won the popular vote by a significant margin, which makes her 2016 campaign particularly notable.
“I think the electoral college is an abomination, and it’s clear why,” Clinton stated, reflecting her ongoing concern.
The electoral system established in 1787 has been crucial in every presidential election. In 2016, Trump garnered 304 electoral votes while Clinton secured 227 out of 538. In terms of the popular vote, Clinton received over 65 million votes (48.2%), while Trump had nearly 63 million (46.1%).
Trump is one of five presidents in American history to win the presidency without winning the popular vote. The others include John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, and George W. Bush. The most remarkable outlier was in 1824 when Andrew Jackson received a significantly higher percentage of the popular vote (40.45%) than Adams (32.74%) but lost by 15 electoral votes.
Clinton has often been seen as an election denier, claiming that the 2016 election had illegitimate aspects.
She has made several statements casting doubt on the legality of U.S. elections, including:
- 2016: Suggesting the Supreme Court “stripped [him] of the presidency” with the Bush v. Gore decision.
- 2017: Mentioning she would “not rule out” questioning the legitimacy of the 2016 election.
- 2020: Suggesting that the 2016 election was not conducted legally, stating, “We still don’t really know what happened.”
Clinton also expressed that Stacey Abrams “would have won” the 2020 gubernatorial race in Georgia “if there had been a fair election,” insisting that Abrams “should have been governor” and alleging that her vote was marginalized.
