The only reason that 45 is 45 (and hopefully not much longer) is because of the Electoral College which was established by the founders to make sure that hoi polloi didn't get too uppity, just to make it so that the rich and educated and politically powerful retained their power in the face of true democracy.
In defense of the electoral college consider this: between 70 and 80% of the population of the United States live within 50 miles of either the Atlantic or Pacific coast. Without the electoral college that would leave a 2,300 mile long swath of this country with little or no voice in electing the President.
It would save the candidates millions (billions?) of dollars in campaign funds as there would be no reason to campaign anywhere but on the two coasts. Arguably there would not even be a reason to have the presidential candidate's names on the ballot in say 35 of the 50 states.
If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?
