Delaware becomes 13th U.S. state giving electoral votes to winner of national popular vote

WASHINGTON, March 28 (Xinhua)-- The governor of the U.S. state of Delaware has signed a bill that would give the state's presidential electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote, local media reported Thursday.

Delaware thus became the 13th Democratic-leaning state to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, an agreement among a group of U.S. states and the District of Columbia to award all their electoral votes to whomever wins the popular vote nationally.

states that belong to the compact now hold 184 electoral votes, but still well short of the 270 needed for a candidate to win the presidency, which is also the threshold at which the pact takes effect.

The initiative started after Democrat Al Gore won the popular vote but lost to George W. Bush in 2000 and gained steam after Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump in 2016.

Supporters of using the popular vote to elect president argued that the change would make candidates pay more attention to voters outside traditional "battleground" states.

Opponents said it circumvents the U.S. Constitution and would lead candidates to focus their attention on major metropolitan areas, ignoring smaller or rural areas.

President Trump voiced his opposition this month to using the popular vote to elect presidents, tweeting that "campaigning for the Popular Vote is much easier different than campaigning for the electoral College."

"Cities would end up running the Country" without the electoral College and that the current system "is far better for the U.S.A.," he wrote.