OBAMA WINS RE-ELECTION:

KEBBA JATTA

President Barak Obama won re-election Tuesday night after a sweep of the battleground states. Obama defeated his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney in all of the battleground states except North Carolina where Romney won and Florida where ballots are still being counted. Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Colorado, Iowa, and Nevada all went to Obama in an election that was widely considered very close.

Up to the time of voting, all the major polls showed the candidates in a dead heat, often within the statistical margin of error. For example the Gallup poll taken between November 1st and 4^th showed Obama at 48% and Romney at 49% with a margin of error of plus one (+1).

Ohio, one of the most critical swing states, is what gave Obama the victory. This Mid-Western state with 29 electoral votes sits in the heart of the auto industry, and benefitted from Obama’s bold intervention to bail out the auto industry in 2010 that saved many jobs. Romney, the Republican contender opposed the bailout arguing that Ford, General Motors and Chrysler should be allowed to go through bankruptcy. Most political analysts, including John King of CNN, believed that while Obama has several possibly pathways to re-election, Romney could not possibly win the presidency without winning Ohio.

The economy was the main driving force in the election. Romney’s campaign argued that the economy didn’t perform well under Obama’s four-year rule and so change is necessary. He often touted his business experience and cited the high unemployment rate, and promised to repeal the “Affordable healthcare plan” passed by the Obama administration. The Romney campaign also promised to cut down government spending and reduce taxes on all Americans, a move widely considered to be in favor of the rich over the middle class. The Obama campaign, on the other hand argued that he has inherited a bad economy from the previous Bush administration and since then the economy has stabilized and now improving, so we must continue to move forward and not return to the economic policies that led us into the recession. Obama planned to raise taxes on those who make more than 250,000 dollars a year.

The changing demographics, due to increases in the population of minorities such as women, Hispanics, African Americans, and young people; all of whom overwhelmingly voted for Obama helped tilt the election in the president’s favor. Romney’s positions on issues important to these groups such as women’s health, immigration, student loans, Medicare and healthcare made him quite unpopular and out of touch.