What is a reason the electoral college sometimes fails to choose the popular vote winner?

The reason that the electoral college sometimes fails to choose the popular vote winner is largely due to a large state bias. This bias occurs because the electoral college assigns a number of votes to each state based on its representation in Congress, which is influenced by population but also has a minimum of three votes for smaller states. This means that smaller states have a disproportionately higher number of electoral votes per capita compared to larger states. As a result, candidates often focus their campaigning efforts on swaying voters in states with larger electoral votes, potentially neglecting smaller states where their votes carry more weight relative to their population size.

When the electoral process culminates, the allocation of electoral votes can lead to a situation where a candidate wins the presidency by securing a majority of electoral votes, while not having a majority of the national popular vote. This happens because winning a state's electoral votes requires only a simple majority of that state's popular votes, which can result in scenarios where a candidate loses the nationwide popular vote but wins enough key state votes to obtain the required electoral majority.

Other factors, like faithless electors—who are electors that do not vote for the candidate to whom they are pledged—play a role in the electoral outcome as well, but the fundamental issue of large