Of course you can. The “win” is set up to collect electoral votes.So wouldn't 'the people' be with whom ever did get the popular vote?
You can't claim the vote of 'the people' when you lost the popular vote. Ever.
And because the most populous states - NY, CA, IL - are locks for the Dems, a R nominee doesn’t give those population centers much due. If he were aiming for the popular vote, he’d be campaigning hard there and the popular numbers would reflect that.
And, as sad, it’s quite a stretch to go door-to-door collecting the mail ballots to people so completely uninterested in who wins a presidential election, show them where to put the “x,” and then say, “voila! the will of the people.”