How does the popular vote differ from the electoral vote during A presidential election?

The electoral vote is the process of voting the President through electoral votes in which each state is given a certain number of votes depending on their population which is determined through the census. A candidate needs 270 to win and is important for potential candidates to focus on swing states, or those either republican or democratic in order to win the most possible votes. There are a total of 538 electoral votes for the states combined where the candidate with the most popular vote in that state wins the entire electoral votes. The popular vote is the one man one vote for the entire nation. It is the actual individual vote for the nation.