At first glance one might think the map below shows that almost the whole US voted Republican in the 2004 Presidential Election.
Wikipedia's article about Red vs Blue states - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_states_and_blue_states
In reality, the vote was rather evenly split between the Democratic and Republican candidates. It is even possible that the candidate getting the most total votes could lose our Presidential election (it happened in the 2000 Presidential Election.) The reason is described in detail on that web page, but the bottom line is that the Electoral College takes into account population and geographic factors. From the population map below it is easy to see that a Presidential voting system based purely on popular vote would leave Montana and Wyoming with practically no say in the election whatsoever, while the New York area would rule supreme.
http://www.time.com/time/covers/20061030/where_we_live/
Our forefathers didn't establish the US without such considerations. It may not be perfect, but the US governmental system is one of the most successful ventures ever produced by a committee.
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