People talk about abolishing the Electoral College system. If that happened, how many candidates would run in the general election for president? ~

Seven? Eight? If we had a national popular vote system, lots of people could run and a candidate could be elected with 30% or less of the vote. Never mind what the Trump people are screaming about now, imagine the potential for election cheating and fraud in a system like that.

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DragonFruit · 61-69, M

You could have many people running right now....but a party endorsement from the Republican and Democratic primaries is what singles out the most likely to win a general election (as most will vote for one of the 2 major party nominees). No third party candidate has gotten more than 18.9% of the vote since 1912 (Ross Perot got 18.9% in 1992).
Why would the potential for election fraud increase with more people running?
I don’t see why more people who don’t have the financial backing of a major party would have the funds for any substantial fraud (and votes would still be counted by representatives from at least the 2 major parties, possibly more depending on the rules of the jurisdiction).
Lack of an electoral college wouldn’t mean more people running, but would mean that the election would be truly democratic.
One person, one vote....and the person with the most votes wins.

RedBaron · M

@DragonFruit The chances of cheating and fraud would increase because there would be nothing to prevent more parties from being formed and more candidates running. With more candidates, someone could be elected with, say, 27% of the vote as long as nobody else got more than 26%. If someone needed to swing only a few votes here and there, their supporters would have greater incentive to figure out ways to game the system.

DragonFruit · 61-69, M

@RedBaron That might have been more likely if the 2 party system wasn’t already in place. Those who don’t have the backing of the Republican or Democratic party don’t have the funding of a major party behind them and have little chance of winning because they can’t advertise as well or spend as much on events. There are already safeguards from the major parties in place to keep the major parties in power and to keep third party candidates from winning.
BTW, even with the electoral college there’s nothing to prevent multiple people from running or the formation of other parties....and the same barriers preventing third party candidates from winning would still be there if the electoral college wasn’t there.