Republican lawmakers in several key swing states are considering plans to allocate their electoral college votes by Congressional district, in a move that would give Republican presidential candidates a new advantage in future elections.
The policy, if applied nationally, would seriously impact the way presidential elections turn out by giving out electoral votes by congressional districts already drawn to be favorable for Republicans.
Here, we look at the past eleven presidential elections to see how they would turn out if every state allocated their presidential electoral votes along congressional district lines. The electoral college numbers are estimates, arrived at by finding the number of congressional districts each candidate's party won, and adding two votes for each outright majority in a state.
1972: McGovern would have come close to defeating Nixon
What would have happened: Despite the fact that Democratic Senator George McGovern only won an outright majority in one state and the District of Columbia — and that he lost the election to President Richard Nixon by 18 million votes — the Democratic candidate would have come within 23 electoral votes of the Oval Office, buoyed by a victory in 242 congressional districts.
What really happened: Nixon crushed McGovern, 520 - 17.
1976: Carter would have shellacked Ford
What would have happened: Despite only having a popular vote margin of victory of 2.1 percent, Georgia's Democratic Governor Jimmy Carter would have finished with 341 electoral votes, thumping President Gerald Ford's 197 votes.
What really happened: Carter beat Ford, 297 to 240 electoral votes.
1980: Reagan would have beaten Carter by a hair
What would have happened: Carter would have come within 12 electoral votes of victory, despite losing to Ronald Reagan by 8.4 million votes and losing 44 states.
The final electoral vote count: Reagan 280 - Carter 258.
What really happened: The election was a landslide. Reagan won 489 electoral votes to Carter's 49, and finished with a double digit margin of victory in the popular vote spread.
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