After an extensive halftime... 2nd Half Kickoff begins. Quarter 3
The Constitution describes our representative form of government. The US is not a democracy. It is a democratic republic. The three branches are each put in power through different means.
Congressional Representatives by direct vote of the people. Senator initially were appointed by their various state legislatures to the position as representatives of their state and accountable to their legislatures. Senators are now elected to office by direct vote.
The Supremes are appointed by the POTUS and allowed to assume office once the Senate confirms them.
Potus is not elected directly by the people. In fact, it wasn't until 1824 when eighteen states allowed their electoral votes to be chosen by popular election. John Q. Adams lost the popular vote to Andrew Jackson, but Jackson had fewer EC votes. Jackson was pizzed because he lost by one vote to Adams, so pizzed in fact that he started, yep - The Democrat Party.
R. B. Hayes defeated Tilden, and Ben Harrison defeated Grover Cleveland but both of them lost the popular vote to their rival. So Bush and Trump are not the only US Presidents to lose the popular vote yet win the Presidency. Lincoln won less than 40% of the popular vote in 1860.
"So why is it, you might ask, that I'm not up by 50 points" that we don't elect the President directly by the popular vote. The answer in this matter is that the Constitution is designed to buffer the effects of regionalism. Various issues can emotionally sway the populations of the country in any given election cycle. We see that the gross violation of our immigration laws and Trump's response to it gave rise to a huge popular vote by Mexican Americans and liberals in California. He lost the popular vote by 3,mm in California and overall. To use the popular vote to directly elect the POTUS would in effect be giving the state of California undue influence in the outcome - based on the nation's overall population. It would be effectively ballot box stuffing.