Why Obama Won the 2012 Election

Why Obama won the 2012 Election The American elections of 2012 was very competitive between the Democrat candidate Barrack Obama, who was the president then, and Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate. The campaigns and presidential debates were quite heated and as has been earlier mentioned, it was tight for each of them as polls clearly indicated that both Obama and Romney had more or less an equally high chance of winning the presidential elections.

Demographics played a significant part in seeing Obama take the day. The groups of people that actually made the difference include groups of young women, African Americans, Hipics and Asian Americans. Some of the states in which Obama won include New York, New Jersey, New Mexico, Maryland, Wyoming, Colorado, Florida, Ohio, Maine, Illinois, Massachusetts, Oregon, New Hampshire, Vermont, Pennsylvania, California, Washington DC and Rhode Island (Sherman, 2012).

President Barack Obama significantly overcame a bad economy, a fractured political landscape, high unemployment which gave him a great advantage over his challenger. When it comes to the states, it is seen that Obama took a number of key battlegrounds sates. As has been earlier pointed out, the Northeastern states remained loyal to Obama’s column by significant margins. In addition to this, he took no less than six of the nine swing states including Ohio. In the end, the fifty one year old president had more than the two hundred and seventy votes that would guarantee him a win.

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It is interesting to note that the New Jersey electorate, even with the major challenge of the Hurricane Sandy, showed their faith in the president emphasize and in addition to this, just to emphasize their solidarity for the Democrats, reelected Robert Menendez the Senator. He defeated the Republican Joe Kyrillos quite easily (Heavey, 2012). In my opinion, one of the major reasons why Obama won the 2012 presidential elections is that he had a unique campaigning strategy. It is seen that Barack Obama displayed great skill in micro-targeting voters, strategic planning, messaging, and raising funds to boost his campaign.

Obama also got into the challenge with in-built advantages . Obama’s family remained increasingly popular, with Michelle Obama having succeeded in portraying a positive image of Obama’s administration. His appeal to a wide public caused him to be the preferred candidate over Romney. The federal government’s bailout of Chrysler and General Motors as well as Barrack’s union support was essential in winning the election. This was seen particularly in Ohion where out of every eight persons, one has a job in the auto industry.

Across the upper Midwest from Ohio to Pennsylvania to Wisconsin to Michigan, the operations of the union’s voter turn out to a significant extent supplemented the efforts of Obama. Obama also used social media effectively to win the election. Analysts have states that Barack Obama campaign mission was to involve people through empowerment. It is also said that his was the very first political campaign in history to ultimately harness the real power of social media to garner support spread the word and get people engaged and involved.

Barack’s campaign succeeded in reaching five million supporters on fifteen different social networks during the campaign period (Heavey, 2012). He used social media to establish energy of participation as well as a sense of purpose in their supporters. He used the social media as the vehicle to connected real people in real time and enthusiasm as well as providing an easy and accessible platform to demonstrate their support for change through President Obama. There are important lessons which can be drawn from the 2012 American elections.

For any presidential candidate, or political aspirant for that mat matter, it is crucially important to lay focus on the individual. People felt connected to Obama on an individual basis because he managed to think of one American as opposed to American citizens as a group. He focused on the teacher, health official, mother, child in his campaigns. Another significant lesson is the importance of authenticity. Because of his connection with people through thw social web, Obama managed to prove his authenticity to the voters.

In his Facebook page for instance he indicated his favorite music, movies, interests and kept his followers updated on his campaign. It made him real and authentic. Every single bit of support ultimately counts. Obama acknowledged that everyone, despite their backgrounds or income, is equally important in driving the wheels of change. This is the attitude that ought to be carried along in political bids and campaigns (Sherman, 2012). A huge margin win was unexpected because as the results trickled in, Barack and Romney were hot on each other’s heels.

This was clear right from the onset of the presidential debates that preceded the elections, where both parties gave a considerably good show. The impact of social media as has been earlier mentioned was profound. This was not expected because other previous political campaigns had not to a large extent been influenced by this technology. All the same, when Romney conceded to defeat, it was clear for Americans that it was quite difficult to make predictions as to who would take the day as both candidates had equally strong support from the American citizens (Heavey, 2012).

References Obama wins 2012 presidential election, defeats Romney in tight race | NJ. com. (n. d. ). New Jersey Local News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather - NJ. com. Retrieved November 26, 2012, from http://www. nj. com/politics/index. ssf/2012/ Heavey, S. (n. d. ). Obama win shows demographic shifts working against Republicans| Reuters. Business & Financial News, Breaking US & International News | Reuters. com. Retrieved November 26, 2012, from http://www. reuters. com/article/2012/11/08/us-usa-campaign-diversity-new-idUSBRE8A70QK20121108

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