The popular vote on the national level is intrinsically linked to the state level results.
“The popular vote on the national level is intrinsically linked to the state level results.”
Only because it is a sum of all the state totals, but - as a number by itself - it’s irrelevant to who wins or loses the presidency, because THAT is decided ONLY by the popular votes in the separate states, because THAT - NOT the national popular vote - determines the electoral college votes. The 2000 election showed the irrelevancy of the national popular vote.
Focusing on that number tells us nothing useful about how the electoral college votes were won or lost. That is only found in the state vote totals.