alt:
"Shutting off debate was supported by 61% of all senators who were present and voting; Democrats were strongly in favor, while Republicans were evenly divided. Eighty percent of southerners opposed cloture, while 73 percent of senators from other regions voted favorably. Senators from the largest states, both Democrats and Republicans, supported cloture, their views apparently immune to claims that large states were advantaged by the Electoral College. In contrast, small-state senators tended to vote along party lines, with Democrats favoring cloture while Republicans voted negatively. If there was small-state resistance to a [national popular vote], it was present only among Republicans! Boiled down to the essentials, reform was blocked by a coalition of southern Democrats and small-state conservative Republicans. The 34 senators who voted "nay" came from states with 27% of the nation's population."
