If the electoral vote were split across a multi-party ballot via plurality voting, then yeah that would often be the case. The winner take all system of allott

If the electoral vote were split across a multi-party ballot via plurality voting, then yeah that would often be the case. The winner take all system of allotting electors that is used by most states might mitigate that. That is exactly what disincentivizes third party / independent candidates though. What would be better is to use IRV at the state level to allocate electors proportionally. That would still increase the probability of elections going to the house. It's funny how we see that as a bad thing considering it's how most modern democracies elect their chief of state. But maybe instead of adopting the parliamentary method wholesale we could just borrow the coalition building factor when no party has a majority. That is, if no candidate had the required number of electors, they could acquire the electors of another candidate in exchange for VP or a cabinet position. Constitutional hurdles not withstanding.