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This question:

Who would you rather be elected?

may elicit the following answer (not sure if it's grammatically correct):

I'd rather have A win

but supposing that the elections are already over and we have a president elect, if I were talking with a friend and wanted to ask him who he thinks should've been elected using a rather construction, how should I formulate the question? Is it right if I say "Who would you rather had been elected"?

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  • It would sound less ungrammatical if it were “I’d rather A won” or perhaps for some speakers “I’d rather A win” instead of “wins”, but I'm not sure why you’re worried about things like “I’d rather that A had been elected.” Could you please explain the point of grammar here that you’re concerned with? – tchrist Dec 2 '17 at 3:03
  • I'd rather have (fill in your past participle here). Example: I'd rather have gotten to the meeting even earlier. – aparente001 Dec 2 '17 at 5:29
  • There is nothing special about rather and anything that’s already happened. There’s nothing grammatically or semantically wrong with I'd rather have a win but it will never be a relevant answer to Who would you rather be elected? Who would you rather had been elected? seems fine for the past. Who would you rather is elected? seems fine for both present and future. The interesting point is how you thought it helped to drop has (or just possibly had) from a situation already happened. – Robbie Goodwin Dec 3 '17 at 19:08
  • Similar: english.stackexchange.com/questions/18330/… – Barmar Dec 4 '17 at 21:15
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For this, we need to use the "conditional" imperfect with the past participle.

Please note it would also sound more natural if you replace the word prefer to the verb to 'prefer' now. So:

"I would have preferred it if he had won."

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