Very true pdq. But I would add, it also depends on how much Joe and Jane Citizen know about the history of presidential elections, and the Constitution. Which is, apparently, not much if the popular beliefs surrounding the 2000 and 2004 elections are anything to go by.

That's why the media echo chamber that keeps the public hysteria level very high, is so awful. I mean, the 2000 election result was unusual, but not unprecedented. It was going to have to be decided somehow, and Gore certainly didn't want it decided by the House, because he would have lost for sure. So that is how the courts got dragged into it. I do believe the Florida Supreme Court had it right and the US Supreme Court had it wrong, and I also believe that historians will view it that way. But hey--this is the price we pay for the peaceful transition of power. It isn't always going to run perfectly, and the winner won't necessarily win under this system.

So I wish everyone would quit whining about that, and pay some serious attention to the horrendous problems neither of the 2004 mainstream party candidates are addressing!