No Mandate: Obama Lost Ground With Key Demographics

No Mandate: Obama Lost Ground With Key Demographics

There are important lessons to be learned from the results of the 2012 presidential election about the shape of the electorate and how Americans voted. And it might not be what you think.

Overall, many, many fewer Americans turned out to vote. 2008 was a high-water mark for turnout in what may have been an anomaly. President Obama received seven million fewer votes nationwide, but it wasn't a case of the President losing voters to his Republican challenger - Mitt Romney won more than one million fewer votes than John McCain as well.

Some of the much-vaunted demographic advantages...