Winning any election is tough. Winning an election for a second term as President of the United States is really tough. So many factors fall into why a candidate will succeed or fail come Election Day. It is easy to measure when it is all over, one-person wins the other loses. The tougher part is analyzing why one person lost and the other won.
Background
Then Senator Barack Obama won the 2008 United States Presidential election 66,882,230 to Senator John McCain 58,343,671 votes (CNN). Thus, becoming the first African-American to be elected President of the United States. It is considered to be easier to win re-election as President of the United States because you can use the office as a vehicle of your platform. A good example of this was …show more content…
Aaron Blake at the Washington Post wrote, “It all suggests that Obama's laser-like focus on turning out each of his key constituencies -- minorities, women and young people -- paid dividends. And in many cases, these groups backed him as much or more as in 2008.” (Blake). The Obama team needed these groups to turn out and convince their friends to go vote and they did. “According to CNN's exit polls, 55 percent of women voted for Obama, while only 44 percent voted for Mitt Romney. Men preferred Romney by a margin of 52 to 45 percent, and women made up about 54 percent of the electorate. In total, the gender gap on Tuesday added up to 18 percent -- a significantly wider margin than the 12-point gender gap in the 2008 election” (Bassett). Breaking it down even further, Obama won constantly across states with women, “While Obama lost by 10 percentage points among independents in Ohio, he won by 12 points among women in the state. In New Hampshire, women voted for Obama over Romney by a margin of 58 to 42 percent, while men preferred Romney by a narrow 4-point gap. Pennsylvania showed a 16-point gender gap that tipped the scale toward Obama”
Background
Then Senator Barack Obama won the 2008 United States Presidential election 66,882,230 to Senator John McCain 58,343,671 votes (CNN). Thus, becoming the first African-American to be elected President of the United States. It is considered to be easier to win re-election as President of the United States because you can use the office as a vehicle of your platform. A good example of this was …show more content…
Aaron Blake at the Washington Post wrote, “It all suggests that Obama's laser-like focus on turning out each of his key constituencies -- minorities, women and young people -- paid dividends. And in many cases, these groups backed him as much or more as in 2008.” (Blake). The Obama team needed these groups to turn out and convince their friends to go vote and they did. “According to CNN's exit polls, 55 percent of women voted for Obama, while only 44 percent voted for Mitt Romney. Men preferred Romney by a margin of 52 to 45 percent, and women made up about 54 percent of the electorate. In total, the gender gap on Tuesday added up to 18 percent -- a significantly wider margin than the 12-point gender gap in the 2008 election” (Bassett). Breaking it down even further, Obama won constantly across states with women, “While Obama lost by 10 percentage points among independents in Ohio, he won by 12 points among women in the state. In New Hampshire, women voted for Obama over Romney by a margin of 58 to 42 percent, while men preferred Romney by a narrow 4-point gap. Pennsylvania showed a 16-point gender gap that tipped the scale toward Obama”