Fake reported stated that Trump won the popular vote. He did not. We apologize for reporting it. Moving forward we will do a better job of vetting our sources. Now, Trump says he would have won a popular vote election.
Sunday night on 60 Minutes, Trump confirmed he still prefers the popular vote method. "I’m not going to change my mind just because I won. But I would rather see it where you went with simple votes."
The reactions to what Trump said were predictable.
I totally agree with Donald Trump that the popular vote winner should determine the Presidency.
— Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) November 14, 2016
Trump says he would rather see a simple popular vote determine the president, which means he would have lost. @60Minutes
— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) November 14, 2016
The only issue with that is there is no way of knowing for sure if Trump wins or loses a popular election. To lose the popular election in an electoral college election is a very different thing from losing the popular election in an election where that is the deciding factor. To think that Trump's team would not have adapted their strategies to a popular vote election is not accurate.
For example, Donald Trump did not waste time in California. In the electoral college, a loss is a loss. It did not matter if he lost by 10 points or 30 points. If it was a popular election, changing a 22 point loss to a 10 point loss is a battle worth fighting. He tailored his message to winning people over in the rust belt specifically. This is what won him the election.
Trump even pointed this out himself Tuesday.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/798519600413601792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/798521053551140864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
So the line of thinking that Trump would have lost a popular election is something that cannot be proved.
