Today's Crystal Ball: @kkondik on why an Electoral College tie in 2016 would almost be a sure win for Republicans. http://t.co/fcvUIXfmfk
— Larry Sabato (@LarrySabato) January 29, 2015◼ GOP virtually guaranteed to hold edge in event of deadlocked Electoral College - Sabato's Crystal Ball
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, elected to a third term earlier this month, often notes that the presidential cycle is harder for his party than midterms because the electorate is more diverse and Democratic. “For us to win a presidential election, we have to be just about perfect, and the Democrats have to be good,” he told Kyle Cheney of Politico....
While the Democrat needs 270 electoral votes to win the presidency — a majority of the 538 available — the Republican only needs a 269-269 tie to win.
That’s because, in the event of a tie, the newly elected House will pick the president. Each state gets a single vote, so the party that controls a state’s House delegation will almost certainly cast its state’s vote for its candidate. (The Senate would select the vice president, and every senator gets a vote.)
Republicans dominate the states’ individual U.S. House delegations, and there’s no reason to suspect they will lose this advantage in 2016.
The GOP holds a majority of the House seats in 33 states, while Democrats only have a majority in 14....
