This is mainly a "food for thought" kind of thing.
During a symposium on the Supreme Court televised by C-SPAN over the weekend, law professor and former acting Solicitor General Walter Dellinger pointed out something interesting. The panel was addressing the issue of filibustering Supreme Court nominees.
Apparently to help frame the context of majority and minority rights within U.S. Senate floor debate, Dellinger noted that a 52-vote majority on the Senate floor could be achieved by senators representing -- get this -- 17% of the population.
Using U.S. House seats as a proxy for population, I confirmed that the least populous 26 states comprise roughly 17% of the U.S. population.
Anyway, the next time one hears criticism of Senate Democrats for thwarthing the will of the majority of the Senate, one can invite a more probing discussion of whether it's really a majority of the people being represented (such criticism of the Democrats would also be very hypocritical, as Republicans have filibustered under Democratic majorities).