Huh? You ARE aware that the President is elected based on the electoral college, but each state is won based on raw vote count, correct?
If not, now you are.
If so, do you have a problem with that process?
No, it is not the same rationale.
Neither candidate attempts to garner the majority of the popular vote, and voters know it. They would run completely different campaigns if that was the goal, so to hold them to that standard is unfair.
How many Bush voters in Texas, for example, did not vote because they knew Bush had it sewn up by miles? How do you figure in states that both candidates write off as already a given for the other guy? There surely are people in those states they'd try to rally to the polls if they were after amassing the most votes country wide.
No, it is not the same.