Gallup’s initial measure of support for the Electoral College with this wording was conducted in the first few days after the 2000 presidential election in which the winner remained undeclared pending a recount in Florida. At that time, it was already clear that Democratic candidate Al Gore had won the national popular vote over Republican George W. Bush, but that the winner of the election would be the one who received Florida’s 25 Electoral College votes.

During this period, Democrats were much more likely than Republicans to favor replacing the Electoral College system with a popular vote system. In a Gallup poll conducted Dec. 15-17 — shortly after the Dec. 12 Supreme Court decision that ended the Florida recount, thereby deciding the election in Bush’s favor — 75% of Democrats said they would amend the Constitution so that the candidate who receives the most votes nationwide wins. By contrast, 56% of Republicans favored keeping the Electoral College, while 41% favored replacing it with a popular vote system…

Notably, in November 1980, when 67% of Americans, overall, said they approved of an amendment that would change the electoral system, Gallup found little partisan disagreement. Support was 62% among Republicans, 66% among Democrats, and 73% among independents. This suggests that the partisan results seen more recently may result from the political dynamic of the 2000 election, in which the Republican candidate benefited from the Electoral College system at the Democrat’s expense.