President Barack Obama won a second term this week, winning by a wide margin in the electoral colllege and winning more than 50 percent of the popular vote.
The 2012 election was unique for many reasons. It was the first presidential election since the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling. The ruling allowed unlimited donations to flow to so-called super PACs. Slate reported that the super PACs spent a total of $1 billion on the campaign.
Obama was reelected despite a relatively high unemployment rate of 7.9 percent. Business Week noted that not since FDR has a president been reelected with such a high unemployment rate.
The result was not a surprise to everyone. The New York Times' Nate Silver predicted Obama had a better than 90 percent chance of reelection. Silver was prescient, correctly predicting how all 50 states would go and nearly nailing the exact popular vote percentage (Silver had it at 50.8 to 48.3).
Silver also wrote that Republicans will continue to find themselves at a continued electoral college disavantage, in part because of shifting demographics – only 72 percent of the electorate was white.
Some on the right complained that a biased media was to blame for Romney's defeat.
Others pointed to Obama's get out the vote operation and organization in general compared to Romney's. Ars Technica brokedown how team Romney's get out the vote system collapsed on election day.
Meanwhile, Time broke down how Obama's team used technology to identify and motivate potential supporters.
Or maybe a majority of Americans simply thought Obama was the better candidate with better policy positions.