Knowledge Diagram Navigation:

Spatial co-ordinations are initially random, and will automatically re-arrange to minimize complexity based on distance between relationships. Mouse down and drag to pan. Right click on the strategic diagram toggles between motion and stationary. Hover over abstract node (orange) to view abstractions. Hover over leaf node to view corresponding narrative. Left click on the leaf node expands the narrative to view full text.

Narrative Analysis - Report

Key Focus

Has something like this happened before.. About 100 years ago, before the 17th Amendment was passed -- which allows for the direct election of senators -- states had begun shifting from legislatures choosing members sent by the state to the U.S ...

"So Missouri tried something a little more creative, which was to say, 'OK, we're going to ask all candidates to take a term-limits pledge, and we're gonna print if they violated their pledge, we're gonna put that on the ballot, or if they declined to support the term-limits pledge. ...

we're gonna print that on the ballot,'" Muller said.. . "The goal was to say, 'Well, we're not keeping you off the ballot, we're just telling everyone whether or not you're adhering to term limits,'" Muller said ...

So they would hold an election that wasn't binding, but it would just request, 'Who do you want us to vote for.'And then you got a sentiment from the people and the legislature could or could not follow that," Muller said. ...

No momentum supporting factor found

Challenge supporting factors

(muller,election)

(muller,senators)

(election,legislatures)

(election,senators,legislatures)

(muller,legislatures)

(electoral_college,candidates)

(electoral_college,electors)

(election,political)

(election,senators,political)

(election,polarized)

(election,senators,polarized)

(election,national_popular_vote_interstate_compact)

Work-in-progress supporting factors

(muller,unsuccessfully)

(electoral_college,election,electors)

(electoral_college,douglas_dillon)

(electoral_college,election,douglas_dillon)

(electoral_college,democrats)

(electoral_college,election,democrats)

Time Period	Challenge	Momentum	WIP
Report	27.10	0.00	72.90

High Level Abstraction (HLA) combined

High Level Abstraction (HLA)	Report
(1) (muller,election)	100.00
(2) (muller,ballot)	94.85
(3) (muller,questions)	87.50
(4) (muller,congress)	72.79
(5) (muller,term-limits)	51.47
(6) (muller,unsuccessfully)	46.32
(7) (muller,sentiment)	45.59
(8) (muller,senators)	44.85
(9) (muller,polls)	42.65
(10) (muller,missouri)	41.91
(11) (election,legislatures)	41.18
(12) (election,senators,legislatures)	38.97
(13) (muller,legislatures)	38.24
(14) (muller,elections)	37.50
(15) (electoral_college,election,electors)	35.29
(16) (electoral_college,douglas_dillon)	33.82
(17) (electoral_college,election,douglas_dillon)	33.09
(18) (electoral_college,democrats)	31.62
(19) (electoral_college,election,democrats)	30.88
(20) (electoral_college,darrell_west)	29.41
(21) (electoral_college,election,darrell_west)	28.68
(22) (electoral_college,election,brookings_institute)	27.21
(23) (electoral_college,election,abc_news)	25.74
(24) (electoral_college,candidates)	24.26
(25) (electoral_college,political)	23.53
(26) (electoral_college,national_popular_vote_interstate_compact)	22.79
(27) (electoral_college,laws)	22.06
(28) (electoral_college,georgia)	21.32
(29) (electoral_college,electors)	20.59
(30) (electoral_college,delegates)	19.85
(31) (electoral_college,country)	19.12
(32) (election,senators,sentiment)	18.38
(33) (election,sentiment)	17.65
(34) (election,polls)	16.91
(35) (election,senators,polls)	14.71
(36) (election,political)	13.97
(37) (election,senators,political)	11.76
(38) (election,polarized)	11.03
(39) (election,senators,polarized)	8.82
(40) (election,senators,muller)	7.35
(41) (election,leaders)	5.88
(42) (election,national_popular_vote_interstate_compact)	5.15
(43) (election,senators,leaders)	3.68
(44) (election,president)	1.47
(45) (election,movement)	0.74

Supporting narratives:

Please refer to knowledge diagram for a complete set of supporting narratives.

challenge - Back to HLA

Has something like this happened before.. About 100 years ago, before the 17th Amendment was passed -- which allows for the direct election of senators -- states had begun shifting from legislatures choosing members sent by the state to the U.S ...
High Level Abstractions:

(muller,election)
Inferred entity relationships (1)
(election,muller,senators) [inferred]

challenge - Back to HLA

About 100 years ago, before the 17th Amendment was passed -- which allows for the direct election of senators -- states had begun shifting from legislatures choosing members sent by the state to the U.S ...
High Level Abstractions:

(muller,senators)

challenge - Back to HLA

About 100 years ago, before the 17th Amendment was passed -- which allows for the direct election of senators -- states had begun shifting from legislatures choosing members sent by the state to the U.S. ...
High Level Abstractions:

(election,legislatures)
(muller,legislatures)
(election,senators,legislatures)
Inferred entity relationships (2)
(election,legislatures,senators) [inferred]
(election,legislatures) [inferred]

challenge - Back to HLA

West said the country currently only has a handful of swing states because of the Electoral College, so candidates spend most of their money on that small number of states.. . "If we got rid of the Electoral College, candidates actually would campaign more broadly ...
High Level Abstractions:

(electoral_college,candidates)

challenge - Back to HLA

States do have the authority to set election laws. But according to the Constitution, the electors to the Electoral College actually are free to vote the way they want," West said.. . "And so states can pass laws, but there haven't been a lot of cases testing these provisions ...
High Level Abstractions:

(electoral_college,electors)

challenge - Back to HLA

West argues that the direct election of senators did require the constitutional amendment to go into effect.. . "And that was 100 years ago, when the political times were less polarized than what we have today," West said. ...
High Level Abstractions:

(election,senators,political)
(election,senators,polarized)
(election,political)
(election,polarized)
Inferred entity relationships (4)
(election,political,senators) [inferred]
(election,polarized,senators) [inferred]
(election,political) [inferred]
(election,polarized) [inferred]

challenge - Back to HLA

The movement seeks to change the way a president is chosen, without a constitutional amendment, but experts say it's unclear what happens when enough states have signed on. It's unlikely this would happen before the 2024 election.. . The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact seeks to guarantee that the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia wins the presidency ...
High Level Abstractions:

(election,national_popular_vote_interstate_compact)

WIP - Back to HLA

"So Missouri tried something a little more creative, which was to say, 'OK, we're going to ask all candidates to take a term-limits pledge, and we're gonna print if they violated their pledge, we're gonna put that on the ballot, or if they declined to support the term-limits pledge ...
High Level Abstractions:

(muller,term-limits)

WIP - Back to HLA

So they would hold an election that wasn't binding, but it would just request, 'Who do you want us to vote for.'And then you got a sentiment from the people and the legislature could or could not follow that," Muller said. ...
High Level Abstractions:

(election,senators,muller)
(election,sentiment)
(muller,election)
(election,senators,sentiment)
Inferred entity relationships (3)
(election,muller) [inferred]
(muller,senators) [inferred]
(election,muller,senators) [inferred]

WIP - Back to HLA

"So Missouri tried something a little more creative, which was to say, 'OK, we're going to ask all candidates to take a term-limits pledge, and we're gonna print if they violated their pledge, we're gonna put that on the ballot, or if they declined to support the term-limits pledge. ...
High Level Abstractions:

(muller,ballot)

WIP - Back to HLA

we're gonna print that on the ballot,'" Muller said.. . "The goal was to say, 'Well, we're not keeping you off the ballot, we're just telling everyone whether or not you're adhering to term limits,'" Muller said ...
High Level Abstractions:

(muller,ballot)

WIP - Back to HLA

Some states unsuccessfully tried to implement term limits for members of Congress about 20 or 30 years ago, Muller said ...
High Level Abstractions:

(muller,unsuccessfully)

WIP - Back to HLA

So they would hold an election that wasn't binding, but it would just request, 'Who do you want us to vote for.'And then you got a sentiment from the people and the legislature could or could not follow that," Muller said.. . Later, those states -- including Oregon -- began binding themselves to the results of the preference polls, Muller said ...
High Level Abstractions:

(muller,sentiment)

WIP - Back to HLA

"If Congress fails to do that, I'm sure there will be litigation," Muller said.. . There are other legal questions, such as whether it would violate equal protections if the U.S. ...
High Level Abstractions:

(muller,questions)

WIP - Back to HLA

were to have different states with different rules for their elections and questions about whether a state has the authority to do this, Muller said.. . "There are lots of open, contested questions . ...
High Level Abstractions:

(muller,questions)
(muller,elections)

WIP - Back to HLA

Later, those states -- including Oregon -- began binding themselves to the results of the preference polls, Muller said. ...
High Level Abstractions:

(muller,polls)

WIP - Back to HLA

Some states unsuccessfully tried to implement term limits for members of Congress about 20 or 30 years ago, Muller said. The Supreme Court said that was unconstitutional in 1995.. . "So Missouri tried something a little more creative, which was to say, 'OK, we're going to ask all candidates to take a term-limits pledge, and we're gonna print if they violated their pledge, we're gonna put that on the ballot, or if they declined to support the term-limits pledge ...
High Level Abstractions:

(muller,missouri)

WIP - Back to HLA

"If Congress fails to do that, I'm sure there will be litigation," Muller said.. . There are other legal questions, such as whether it would violate equal protections if the U.S ...
High Level Abstractions:

(muller,congress)

WIP - Back to HLA

Some states unsuccessfully tried to implement term limits for members of Congress about 20 or 30 years ago, Muller said. The Supreme Court said that was unconstitutional in 1995. ...
High Level Abstractions:

(muller,congress)

WIP - Back to HLA

States do have the authority to set election laws. But according to the Constitution, the electors to the Electoral College actually are free to vote the way they want," West said. ...
High Level Abstractions:

(electoral_college,laws)
(electoral_college,election,electors)
Inferred entity relationships (1)
(electoral_college,electors) [inferred]

WIP - Back to HLA

In every other election over the last 30 years, Democrats have won the popular vote, but because of the Electoral College, Republicans have gotten the presidency a couple of times despite losing the popular vote," Darrell West, a Douglas Dillon chair in governmental studies at the Brookings Institute, told ABC News in an interview ...
High Level Abstractions:

(electoral_college,douglas_dillon)
(electoral_college,election,darrell_west)
(electoral_college,darrell_west)
(electoral_college,democrats)
(electoral_college,election,democrats)
(electoral_college,election,douglas_dillon)
Inferred entity relationships (1)
(election,electoral_college,electors) [inferred]

WIP - Back to HLA

In every other election over the last 30 years, Democrats have won the popular vote, but because of the Electoral College, Republicans have gotten the presidency a couple of times despite losing the popular vote," Darrell West, a Douglas Dillon chair in governmental studies at the Brookings Institute, told ABC News in an interview. ...
High Level Abstractions:

(electoral_college,election,abc_news)
(electoral_college,election,brookings_institute)
Inferred entity relationships (1)
(election,electoral_college,electors) [inferred]

WIP - Back to HLA

"Ultimately, there probably is going to have to be a constitutional amendment to get rid of the Electoral College, but everyone knows that's not possible now for political reasons. It takes a very large majority in Congress as well as in the states to make any change to the Constitution ...
High Level Abstractions:

(electoral_college,political)

WIP - Back to HLA

The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact seeks to guarantee that the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia wins the presidency. ...
High Level Abstractions:

(electoral_college,national_popular_vote_interstate_compact)

WIP - Back to HLA

Each of these 21,461 voters (5,229 in Arizona, 5,890 in Georgia, and 10,342 in Wisconsin) was 329 times more important than the 7 million voters elsewhere," the compact says. ...
High Level Abstractions:

(electoral_college,georgia)

WIP - Back to HLA

So what states are trying to figure out is, 'Short of a constitutional amendment, are there ways to improve the Electoral College.'" West said.. . But it remains unclear what happens when enough states pledge their delegates. ...
High Level Abstractions:

(electoral_college,delegates)

WIP - Back to HLA

West said the country currently only has a handful of swing states because of the Electoral College, so candidates spend most of their money on that small number of states. ...
High Level Abstractions:

(electoral_college,country)

WIP - Back to HLA

"Some states -- I think Oregon was one of the leaders among some others -- would institute preference polls for the people for their senators. So they would hold an election that wasn't binding, but it would just request, 'Who do you want us to vote for.'And then you got a sentiment from the people and the legislature could or could not follow that," Muller said ...
High Level Abstractions:

(election,polls)
(election,senators,leaders)
(election,leaders)
(election,senators,polls)
Inferred entity relationships (4)
(election,leaders) [inferred]
(election,polls) [inferred]
(election,leaders,senators) [inferred]
(election,polls,senators) [inferred]

WIP - Back to HLA

When there are enough states pledging their popular votes to meet the 270 Electoral College vote threshold, all the votes in those states will be added up to a national count that determines the winner of the election. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact says that will give each vote equal weight regardless of where a voter lives ...
High Level Abstractions:

(election,national_popular_vote_interstate_compact)

WIP - Back to HLA

The movement seeks to change the way a president is chosen, without a constitutional amendment, but experts say it's unclear what happens when enough states have signed on ...
High Level Abstractions:

(election,president)
(election,movement)

Semantics Relevance

State law takes US a step closer to popular vote deciding presidential elections