There are 51 individual elections for President. Tabulating the aggregate vote is a nonbinding exercise in addition only.
I’ve had to explain this fact endlessly to liberals, who think that America is a democracy, and not a republic. Without the electoral college, a candidate could win 48 states by 100,000 votes in each state, lose California and New York by 2.5 million votes each, and lose the election by 200,000 votes. Voters in other states would have no voice, as candidates would only focus on a few states. Our founding fathers had great wisdom.