Why did Mitt Romney lose?

[Rosebunse]

This is from exit polling and is USA Today...so take it for what it is.

http://www.usatoday.com/interactives...e-race-was-won

And it appears that Florida is still outstanding.

White vote 72.3% of which Romney won 58.7%. But he got killed in every other category.

Romney won older white males. There aren't enough of them left to make up a majority.

Interesting that Obama won a majority of the people who thought the economy was still "not good." Which leads me to believe they're blaming Bush, Congress or both.

People did NOT think Romney cared about people like them. He came off as cold and aristocratic.

Well, this is interesting. Well, this proves one thing, and that's that you can't just appeal to white people, particularly men, and hope to win. I hope Republicans realize that they NEED to include those other demographics. If they don't, they won't last long.

Once more, Republicans are trying to cater to a dying demographic of old white people.

[Winslow]

This is from exit polling and is USA Today...so take it for what it is.

http://www.usatoday.com/interactives...e-race-was-won

And it appears that Florida is still outstanding.

White vote 72.3% of which Romney won 58.7%. But he got killed in every other category.

Romney won older white males. There aren't enough of them left to make up a majority.

Interesting that Obama won a majority of the people who thought the economy was still "not good." Which leads me to believe they're blaming Bush, Congress or both.

People did NOT think Romney cared about people like them. He came off as cold and aristocratic.

That chart is easier to read than the NYT link I posted earlier.

I wonder why Asians voted so strongly for Obama? I haven't heard any talking heads even mentioning that.

[cactusmaac]

If he'd had the same share of the Hispanic vote as Bush, he'd only have won Florida.

He lost because he didn't win enough of the white vote in the Mid-West. I'm guessing voters there have taken an economic hammering and talks of social welfare cuts are not a vote-winner.

Obama's been kind of lackadaisical as a president, but he hasn't broken anything important or got the US involved in draining wars, so why change horses for no particular reason?

Also it would probably be a negative for social peace if the country's first non-white president got kicked to the curb when he hasn't made any serious errors.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv...lls/table.html

Romney did a lot better than McCain though.

A. Men - 4 points better than McCain
B. Women - 1 point better than McCain
C. Young voters (18-29) - 5 points better than McCain
D. Middle age voters (45-64) - 2 points better than McCain
E. Old voters (65+) - 3 points better than McCain
F. Republicans - 3 points better than McCain
G. Independents - 6 points better than McCain
H. Whites - 4 points better than McCain
I. Blacks - 2 points better than McCain
J. Other - 7 points better than McCain
K. High school graduates - 2 points better than McCain
L . Some college - 1 point better than McCain
M. College graduate - 3 points better than McCain
N. Postgraduate - 2 points better than McCain
O. $50-99K - 3 points better than McCain
P. $100K+ - 5 points better than McCain
Q. Married men - 7 points better than McCain
R. Married women - 2 points better than McCain
S. Non-married men - 2 points better than McCain
T. Non-married women - 2 points better than McCain
U. Liberals - 1 point better than McCain
V. Moderates - 2 points better than McCain
W. Conservatives - 4 points better than McCain
X. Protestants - 3 points better than McCain
Y. Catholics - 3 points better than McCain
Z. Jewish voters - 9 points better than McCain
A1. None (religion) - 4 points better than McCain
B1. White evangelicals - 4 points better than McCain

Romney lost with

A. Age 30-44 voters - 1 point worse than McCain
B. Democrats - 3 points worse than McCain
C. Hispanics - 4 points worse than McCain
D. Asians - 9 points worse than McCain
E. Dropouts - 1 point worse than McCain
F. Under $50K - Less than one point worse than McCain
G. Some other religion - Less than one point worse than McCain

[7thangel]

how exactly has Obama been lackadaisical?

[Winslow]

He lost because he didn't win enough of the white vote in the Mid-West. I'm guessing voters there have taken an economic hammering and talks of social welfare cuts are not a vote-winner.

His non-support of the auto bail out as well as pissing off Chrysler executives the week before the election with mis-leading ads probably didn't help. I heard Chrysler was giving employees time off to vote.

[Rosebunse]

how exactly has Obama been lackadaisical?

The economy didn't magically fix itself...and the drone thing. I don't know. I'm happy with things. He's done things I don't agree with, but he's been pretty good. At least I have health insurance now.

[Dreadstar]

I still think his support of the Ohio Governor's state bill 2 last year killed him in Ohio

[cactusmaac]

how exactly has Obama been lackadaisical?

What has he accomplished?

Congressional Dems have been getting increasingly frustrated by his lack of engagement in moving legislation through. Clinton and LBJ he ain't.

[Slam_Bradley]

How the hell anyone who has ever been involved with the US auto industry could have voted for Romney is beyond my comprehension. He set himself up to lose the Great Lakes region.

[Gary_B]

Well, this is interesting. Well, this proves one thing, and that's that you can't just appeal to white people, particularly men, and hope to win. I hope Republicans realize that they NEED to include those other demographics. If they don't, they won't last long.

Once more, Republicans are trying to cater to a dying demographic of old white people.

I keep hearing this but with baby boomers starting to hit sixty-five this year the elderly population is about to balloon not dwindle. What is more significant is that aging boomers have probably already wrapped their heads around concepts like gay marriage and abortion and are probably more likely to have friendships and relationships with other races. I know that my parents, who are eighty, became far more accepting of gay rights once they had friends come to terms with accepting that they had adult gay children. Many Boomers have lived through and accepted the social changes of the last several decades.

[stillanerd]

Here's what I posted in the "Between Barack and a Hard Place Thread":

There's one thing about this election that I think is only now starting to get any real notice. In 2008, a record 131 million voted in the Presidential Election, with 69.4 million going for Obama and 59.9 million going for McCain. This year, however, voter turnout dropped to 118 million, with 60.7 million going for Obama, and 57.8 million going for Romney.

Which means 13 million people who showed up in 2008 didn't show up to vote this year. That suggests to me that, contrary to popular conception, there was actually less enthusiasm for the candidates in both parties this year than there was four years ago.

Yes, Obama beat Romney by 3 million votes, but notice that close to that many on the Republican side stayed home compared to 2008. And Obama only had .8% more votes than McCain did in 2008. The difference is that, in spite of having a deficit of 9 million voters in this election, the Obama campaign was better at mobilizing their base supporters than Romney did with the Republicans. And this is evident when you look at what was going on in the Republican Primary. Republicans weren't all that thrilled with Romney because they thought he was a "flip-flopping moderate," but were convinced by the party establishment that he was the "most electable" compared to the more conservative candidates, who were basically beating each other up more than they were Romney.

In short, the Republicans made the same mistake the Democrats did in 2004 when they choose John Kerry as their nominee, who, ironically enough, was also characterized as a "flip-flopper" and got the nomination because he was the "most electable."

[7thangel]

What has he accomplished?

Congressional Dems have been getting increasingly frustrated by his lack of engagement in moving legislation through. Clinton and LBJ he ain't.

what has he accomplished?

are you serious?

[Gary_B]

Romney would have won if he'd only cheated, lied and spent more!

[7thangel]

Romney would have won if he'd only cheated, lied and spent more!

And did even more to appeal to just white people

"And he would have gotten away with it too, if not for those pesky minorities and the womens"

[Omegastorm]

What has he accomplished?

Congressional Dems have been getting increasingly frustrated by his lack of engagement in moving legislation through. Clinton and LBJ he ain't.

o