I never said they have no influence. I said they don't have anywhere near an overruling influence that you claimed. Popular vote = 1 person 1 vote. Why shouldn't a city with 8 million people end up having more influence over a county in idaho with only thousands? It should. I pointed out that the biggest 10 cities in America only make up 9% of the popular vote, and the next largest cities drop substantially in population. Using the popular vote wouldn't give thr biggest cities the deciding factor. By using the electoral college, you're literally debunking up to 49.9% of that state's votes who chose the losing candidates. With the electoral college, candidates only visit a very small number of states during their campaign because they know they're going to win a # of states, so they only focus on a select few number of states and they cater toward them. In a popular vote, candidates would have to focus on a bigger picture campaign that appeals to people across the country because no candidate can win solely by getting big cities, nor by getting small counties across the country.