Election Overview

When Barack Obama won the election, he did so by a larger margin then what was expected. He won the popular vote by 7% and received over 350 electoral votes, classifying his victory as a landslide. A large portion of his voters were people voting for the first time. Even though this group accounts for only 11% of all voters, it made a huge difference in determining the president. Exit polls showed that a whopping 73% of first time voters picked Obama. This was a result of excellent campaigning by Obama. John Edwards said once that "young voters like to have a cause to stand behind." Barack Obama gave them that cause: change The majority of the youth has been extremely displeased with the last 8 years, and did not want more of the same. Barack Obama ran on a platform to help every American, not just the rich ones. This tactic caused supporters to really connect with the candidate, much more so then they did with Kerry or Gore. Barack's ability to connect with all sorts of people, especially the youth, won him the election.

With Obama's victory, the senate, the house, and the president are all democratic. America has made it clear which party's agenda they want to follow. Even some states such as North Carolina and Indiana, that are usually red, turned blue with this election. This poses a major problem for the Republican Party. It is well known that most Republican support comes from very wealthy whites and rural southern whites. In this election McCain won only 5% of black voters, and only 33% of latino voters. The Republican party will have to change its platform to broaden its range of voters, especially since it is predicted that by 2042, whites will account for less than half of the American population. The Rupublican Party will also have to do better with the urban and younger voters if they want a chance of winning in the near future.