Once More, a Divided Nation

With President Barack Obama having finally been declared the winner in Florida, Talking Points Memo has released this map of the nation’s presidential preferences. (Click for an enlargement.)



The breakdown between Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney doesn’t look terribly different from the 2008 election map. Four years ago, though, Obama picked up 365 Electoral College votes to John McCain’s 173. And in 2008, Obama won 52.9 percent of the popular to vote to McCain’s 45.7 percent; this year the president scored 50.6 percent to Romney’s 47.9 percent (a result quite close to my own prediction on the morning of the election).

READ MORE: “Brief Rundown of Just How Big a Victory Tuesday Night Was for Democrats,” by Mugsy (Crooks and Liars); “Paul Begala: How the GOP Helped Obama Win” (The Daily Beast); “Which Polls Fared Best (and Worst) in the 2012 Presidential Race,” by Nate Silver (The New York Times); “Forget Nate Silver: Meet the Guy Who Called 2012 in 2002,” by Benjy Sarlin (Talking Points Memo); “Hayes: Conservatives Are Creating Their Own Electoral Enemies,” by Heather (Crooks and Liars); “Close, but Not Really,” by Steve Benen (The Maddow Blog).