Popular Vote
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A popular vote tallies the number of votes cast in an election compared to votes made by voters’ representatives. Every eligible voter gets to cast a ballot, which election officials tally to determine voter preferences.
However, in the United States, popular votes don’t directly elect the president. Instead, representatives in the Electoral College vote for the president on citizens’ behalf. Every state gets a certain number of electors based on congressional representation.
U.S. presidential candidates need to win a majority of these electoral votes to win. This means that a candidate can win the popular vote but still lose the presidency if they don’t have enough electoral votes, which happened in 2000 and 2016.