Gallup Poll has just released a new survey that shows 62% of Americans would prefer a direct popular vote for President, whereas 35% want to retain the Electoral College. Here are the details.

This question is not the same as a poll on the National Popular Vote Plan idea. The National Popular Vote Plan ideas retains the electoral college.

Gallup asked this question 1967-1980, and the idea of a direct presidential election, without an electoral college, was also popular then as well. Gallup then apparently ceased asking the question, but started again in 2000 and has done so since then, at least once per year. This new poll is the first since since after the 2000 election to show that a majority of Republicans, as well as a majority of Democrats, favor eliminating the electoral college. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.

This newspaper story has an update on the South Carolina Republican Party’s lawsuit to close its primary to non-members. There is no actual new news about the lawsuit, which was filed in 2010 and which won’t have a trial until August 1, 2012. A new round of briefs will have been filed by December 15, 2011.

The story also happens to mention that another lawsuit, filed by four South Carolina counties to stop the January 2012 Republican presidential primary unless the party pays all the administration costs, has been accepted by the South Carolina Supreme Court. That case will move quickly.

The link to the story requires the reader to pay to read the article. However, anyone may read the article without charge by going first to www.news.google.com and searching for “GOP Suit Seeks Closed Primary.”

On October 22, Rupert Boneham announced that he will seek the Libertarian Party nomination for Indiana Governor in 2012. The announcement has resulted in substantial publicity for the party. This article is typical of many.

Different states in the United States have different political cultures. One of the variables is that some states have had many relatively strong minor party and independent candidates for important statewide state office, whereas others have the opposite tradition. Indiana is a state with no strong minor party or independent candidates for either Governor or U.S. Senator in a century. No one has polled as much as 5% for Governor of Indiana, besides the major parties, since 1912. No one has polled as much as 6% for U.S. Senator from Indiana, besides the two major parties, since 1914, except that in 2006 no Democrat ran, so Libertarian nominee Steve Osborn for U.S. Senate got 12.6%. But in 2010, the Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate, Rebecca Sink-Burris, running against both a Democrat and a Republican, did get 5.41%.

No independent candidate for Governor of Indiana has ever appeared on a government-printed ballot, even though Indiana has used government-printed ballots since 1889. Nor has any independent candidate for U.S. Senate from Indiana ever appeared on a government-printed ballots. The only other states that have never had either an independent for Governor, or an independent for U.S. Senate, on a government-printed ballots are New Mexico (which didn’t have procedures for independent candidates to get on the ballot until 1977), North Carolina, and South Carolina (which has only had government-printed ballots since 1950).