How can presidential candidates receive the largest number of popular votes but can lose the election?

It is possible

that a candidate could win the "national" popular vote total but

lose the electoral vote total. However, the electoral vote of every

state accurately reflects the popular vote within that state. A

candidate could win the electoral votes in a large state such as

California winning the state by a huge margin. However, the

opposing candidate could win the electoral votes in other states

because a majority of the voters in those states vote for the

opposing candidate.