We have, to use a Yiddish phrase, a Verkakte way to elect a President. The Electoral College is undemocratic and can reward (as in the case of Trump) the Presidency even though more people voted for the other candidate. Given the constitutional hurdles, changing this will not happen in our lifetimes.
However, some things are changing that give me hope to ameliorate this inequity. Two key states, Florida and Texas, should eventually go the way of California, which was purple for many years and is now solidly blue. If those two states should become solidly blue, then it would be virtually impossible for the Republicans to win the Presidency unless they put forward a moderate candidate. The party would have to change to be a center-right party (like the Tories in Britain) rather than the current reactionary crew of corrupt sociopaths. (At the point Texas and Florida become reliably blue, a Democratic presidential candidate could lose Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, as Hillary Clinton did, and still win the Electoral College.)
Florida is currently reddish-purple with statewide elections for governor, senator, and President regularly being decided by close margins. So, by adding several hundred thousand progressive voters to the rolls, and getting them out to vote, the Democrats could turn Florida bluish-purple. And in the next few election cycles, demographics and the composition of the electorate should turn the state solidly blue. But it is important to make the investment now and keep it ongoing.
Texas is the bigger prize and seemingly more difficult. But as many people have pointed out the nature of the electorate has been changing there even more dramatically. In 2018, Beto O’Rourke came within three points of defeating Ted Cruz losing by a little more than 200,000 votes out of over 8.3 million cast.
This is from a New Yorker article by Stephania Taladrid:
“Democrats have been able to expand their base in Texas partly because the state’s population is growing fast but also because it is becoming increasingly diverse, young, and urban. And, to a large extent, Latinos are driving that demographic growth. Nearly half of all Texans under the age of eighteen are Latino, and two million of them will become eligible to vote in the next decade. The key, for Democrats, is to make sure that they become involved in the political process.”
At this point polls show that Joe Biden is well ahead in Florida and is neck and neck in Texas. Of the two, Biden should focus his resources on Florida because winning that state will almost ensure he wins the electoral college.
Progressive billionaires like Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg could easily spend one or two hundred million dollars to register new voters and in GOTV programs in both states. If Biden were to win Texas in addition to Florida, it would accelerate a trend that would not only be good for the country now, but in upcoming election cycles. If people like Steyer and Bloomberg really want to change this country politically, this would be the best way to use their immense resources.