http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...College_margin
here is a link to a page listing the presidents margins of victory in each election thru 2000. good info, as it'll show just how close elections have been in the past.
it is not a fact that this country is split more than it's ever been. there have always been polarizations in this country. whether it was over the tariff laws back when jackson was president, which the north was happy about, while the south was not...or whether bridges, roads and canals should be built, or the decision on whether a territory should become a state, there has always been a content, winning side, and a disgruntled unhappy loser.
recently, texas mentioned secession in reaction to obamacare-how absurd. that same threat was used by the south for decades, until they finally carried thru on their threat. and that would have happened much sooner, had voting been simple majority rather than an electoral process.
the electoral college exists so as to keep all states, and thus, all their populations, in the decision making process of electing the president. who here wishes for a single small bloc of states to have the say so in who gets elected? with the electoral college, the process remains a national fight, not just a regional one.