Final answer:
The Electoral College is defended for protecting the interests of smaller states and maintaining federalism, while contributing to a stable two-party system and preventing electoral chaos by ensuring candidates gain widespread support.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Electoral College system protects the representative power of small states by ensuring a balance in political power between densely populated regions and less populated areas. This is reflective of the federal structure of the United States, which aims to maintain a balance between state and national interests. The founders created the Electoral College as a mechanism to prevent the domination by more populous states, thereby ensuring that presidential candidates address concerns and interests of the smaller states, thus preserving federalism and the two-party system.
Another reason for keeping the Electoral College as is, concerns the stability it brings to the electoral system. A direct election approach could lead to a multiparty system, potentially resulting in a fragmented and unstable political landscape. Furthermore, the Electoral College discourages formation of splinter or regional third parties that might arise in a direct election system, maintaining relative political unity. This has been supported by political scientists like Gary W. Cox who show how the Electoral College contributes to the United States' relatively stable two-party system.
Defenders of the Electoral College argue that it also prevents chaos that could arise if elections were based purely on popular vote. In this system, each state's decision has weight, and a candidate must garner widespread support across multiple regions to win, rather than focusing only on populous areas. Despite the call for reforms such as proportional representation or a direct popular vote, the Electoral College remains intact, with some favoring the certainty of the historical system over the potential uncertainty of major changes.