22. Myth that the Electoral College Produces Good Presidents
22.1 MYTH: The Electoral College produces good Presidents.
Daniel H. Lowenstein has argued that there are "11 good reasons"115 not to change the Electoral College:
"The Electoral College produces good presidents.… The Electoral College has produced Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, and Reagan."116
Although these 11 Presidents were indeed distinguished, Lowenstein does not offer any argument connecting the ascension of these 11 individuals to the Presidency and the winner-take-all rule (i.e., awarding all of a state's electoral votes to the candidate who receives the most votes in the state). Moreover, he does not offer any argument as to why these same talented individuals (or other equally talented individuals) could not have risen to the Presidency without the winner-take-all rule. How, for example, was the winner-take-all rule essential to the emergence of, say, Eisenhower or Reagan?
Lowenstein includes two Presidents on his list who were defeated in the Electoral College by a candidate who received fewer popular votes nationwide, namely Andrew Jackson in 1824 and Grover Cleveland in 1888. Why does Lowenstein credit the Electoral College with success when it elected Jackson in 1828 and Cleveland in 1892, but not acknowledge the failure of the Electoral College when it rejected Jackson in 1824 and Cleveland in 1888?117
Moreover, Lowenstein includes three Presidents on his list who were elected before the era when the winner-take-all rule became widespread. Only three states used the winner-take-all rule when George Washington was elected in 1789 and 1792,118 and only one state used it when Thomas Jefferson was elected in 1800.119
Lowenstein also credits the winner-take-all rule for producing Theodore Roosevelt and Harry Truman, even though they each ascended to the Presidency on the death of their predecessor.
Tellingly, Lowenstein's list of 11 Presidents fails to account for the 32 remaining Presidents, including those who were exceedingly corrupt (e.g., Harding, Grant) and those who were mediocre and thoroughly forgettable.
115 Panel discussion at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on October 24, 2008.
116 Debate entitled "Should We Dispense with the Electoral College?" sponsored by PENNumbra (University of Pennsylvania Law Review) available at http://www.pennumbra.com/debates/pdfs/electoral_college.pdf.
117 Lowenstein includes Thomas Jefferson on his list even though the Electoral College defeated Jefferson in 1796.
118 New Hampshire, Maryland, and Pennsylvania used the winner-take-all rule in the nation's first presidential election (1789) and in the second (1792).
119 Only Virginia used the winner-take-all rule in the 1800 election. The legislatures of New Hampshire and Pennsylvania directly appointed presidential electors in 1800, and Maryland switched to a district system in 1796.
